Effects of a Hypocaloric, Nutritionally Complete, Higher Protein Meal Plan on Regional Body Fat and Cardiometabolic Biomarkers in Older Adults with Obesity.

backgroundWhether improvements in cardiometabolic health following weight loss (WL) are associated with changes in regional body fat distribution (gluteal vs. -android) is not well documented.

methodsOlder (age: 70 ± 4 years; mean ± SD) adults with obesity were randomized to a 6-month WL program (WL; n = 47), accomplished using a hypocaloric, nutritionally complete, higher protein -(targeting ≥1.0 g/kg/day) meal plan, or a weight stability (WS; n = 49) program. Android, gynoid, visceral, and subcutaneous abdominal fat masses (via dual energy X-ray absorptiometry ) and fasting glucose and lipid profiles were assessed at baseline and 6 months.

resultsThe WL group lost more body weight (WL: -8.6% vs. WS: -1.7%, p < 0.01), resulting in a reduction in fat mass at each region only following WL (all p < 0.05). The decline in the ratio of android/gynoid fat mass also was significant only following WL, resulting in greater declines than WS (mean [95% CI]; WL: -0.026 [-0.040 to -0.011] vs. WS: 0.003 [-0.012 to 0.019] g, p < 0.01). The change in the ratio of visceral/subcutaneous abdominal fat mass was not significant in either group and did not differ between groups (WL: 0.65 [-0.38 to 1.68] vs. WS: 0.05 [-1.00 to 1.10] g, p = 0.42). In general, the improvements in glucose and lipid profiles were associated with declines in fat mass at the gynoid and android regions (r's = 0.20-0.42, all p < 0.05), particularly the visceral depot but not the ratios.

conclusionWL achieved via a hypocaloric, nutritionally complete, higher protein meal plan is effective in reducing body fat in the android, gynoid, and visceral depots, which relate to cardiometabolic improvements.