# Weight loss tip from Harvard: eat more berries



## Arnold (Apr 17, 2020)

*Weight loss tip from Harvard: eat more berries*
*If you would like to lose some excess pounds of body weight, increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. According to an epidemiological study from Harvard University, published in PLoS Medicine in 2015, such a shift in your diet makes you a little leaner. The greatest weight-loss promoter the Harvardians discovered? Berries.*
*Study*
The researchers used data collected in the Nurses' Health Study [NHS] 1 and 2, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study [HPFS]. Thus, they obtained data from 133468 highly educated Americans, which were followed from 1986 to 2010.
The researchers looked at dietary changes - to be more precise: an increase or decrease in the intake of fruit and vegetables - and changes in body weight.








*Results*
In all studies used, an increase in fruit and vegetable intake was accompanied by a relatively small, yet significant, decrease in body weight. Remarkably, fruit seemed to effect a little more weight loss than vegetables.

















When the researchers further broken down their data, looking separately at specific types of fruits and vegetables, they found that an increase in berry consumption was associated with the greatest decrease in body weight.














Nutritionists and dietitians learn early in their training that fruits and vegetables can contribute to weight loss and weight control because they are high in fiber. The researchers were unable to confirm that in their study. An increase in the consumption of a high fiber fruit or vegetable group did not result in more weight loss than an increase in the consumption of a low fiber fruit or vegetable variety.*Conclusion*
"In these three large cohorts, increasing consumption of all fruits and most vegetables was not associated with weight gain", the researchers write.
"Although the magnitude of weight change associated with each increased daily serving was modest, combining an increase of one-to-two servings of vegetables and one-to-two servings of fruits daily would be associated with substantial weight change, especially if projected to the population level."
_Source:
PLoS Med. 2015;12(9):e1001878._


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