Paleo diet can cut your future diabetes, heart risks

Washington D.C.: Obese, postmenopausal women, you may want to start following a Paleolithic-type diet as a new study has found that it can help you lose weight, improve circulating fatty acid profile and lower your future risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Lead author Caroline Blomquist of the Umea University said that eating a Paleolithic-type diet without calorie restriction significantly improved the fatty acid profile associated with insulin sensitivity and it reduced abdominal adiposity and body weight in obese postmenopausal women.

She added that a Paleolithic-type diet, high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, may have long-term beneficial effects on obesity-related disorders, including reduced risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Blomquist and her colleagues conducted their 24-month intervention in 70 obese postmenopausal women with normal fasting plasma glucose levels. The Paleolithic-type diet was based on lean meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and berries, with rapeseed, olive oils and avocado as additional fat sources. The diet excluded dairy products, cereals, added salt and refined fats and sugar.

At 24 months, the women eating the Paleolithic-type diet reported that their intake of saturated fatty acids decreased by 19 percent; of monounsaturated fatty acids increased by 47 percent; and of polyunsaturated fatty acids increased by 71 percent. The women on the prudent control diet reported no significant changes in their intake of fatty acids.

Specific fatty acids associated with insulin resistance were significantly lower in the women eating the Paleolithic-type foods compared with those on the prudent control diet.

"Obesity-related disorders have reached pandemic proportions with significant economic burden on a global scale. It is of vital interest to find effective methods to improve metabolic balance," Blomquist advised.

The results are presented at ENDO 2016, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Boston.