diet weight harvard study

10 Foods That Drive Weight Gain and Loss Identified by Harvard

Study

Long-term impacts of small but significant lifestyle changes—especially to diet

The New England Journal of Medicine, a team of Harvard researchers has revealed the results of a study of 120,877 people showing that small changes in lifestyle behaviors such as physical activity, sleep duration, and TV-watching are strongly correlated with long-term weight gain.

Long-term impacts of small but significant lifestyle changes—especially to diet

The most important factor was diet—and among the report's most intriguing findings is precisely how much weight gain (or loss) can be attributed to consuming an additional daily serving of a variety of specific foods over a four-year period.

Long-term impacts of small but significant lifestyle changes—especially to diet

The following 10 foods were found to be especially correlated with long-term changes in weight (the first five foods promoting weight gain, the second five promoting weight loss).—Daniel Fromson is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where this post originally appeared.

Potato Chips: The #1 food that promotes weight gain.

Blame the potato chip.

It's the biggest demon behind that pound-a-year weight creep that plagues us

Potatoes: The #2 food that promotes weight gain.

Consuming an extra helping of potatoes each day — French fried, baked or otherwise — can add an average of 0.8 of a pound to body weight per year.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages The #3 food that promotes weight gain.

Harvard study found that sugar-sweetened beverages were one of ... most strongly linked to long-term weight gain among healthy women and men.

Unprocessed Red Meat The #4 food that promotes weight gain.

Single daily serving of unprocessed red meat was associated with a 13% increased risk of death from all causes

Processed Meats The #5 food that promotes weight gain.

Alarmingly, a report conducted by the American Institute for Cancer Research revealed evidence that eating around 50 grams of processed meat (equivalent to a hot dog) each day increased chances of colorectal cancer by 21%.

Vegetables The #1 food that promotes weight loss.

A vegetable diet has long been considered as the best way to lose weight.

Whole Grains The #2 food that promotes weight loss.

Fruit The #3 food that promotes weight loss.

Nuts The #4 food that promotes weight loss.

Yogurt The food that promotes weight loss.

Yogurt−1.16 lbs(−1.48 to −0.84)

Foods and Weight Gain

4-year weight change was most strongly associated with the intake ofpotato chips (+1.69 lb), potatoes (+1.28 lb), sugar-sweetened beverages (+1.00 lb), unpro-cessed red meats (+0.95 lb), and processed meats (+0.93 lb)

Refined Food/Sweets

Weight gain associated with increased consumption of refined grains (0.39 lb per serving per day) was similar to that forsweets and desserts (0.41 lb per serving per day).

Trans Fats

Trans fat 1.44 (0.95 to 1.94) <0.001

A diet rich in trans fatty acids leads to abdominal weight gain compared to a diet rich in monounsaturated fats, even when the calorie intake is equal

Sweets or desserts

Sweets or desserts +0.65 (0.31 to 1.00) <0.001

Danger of French Fries

Potatoes 2.14 (1.26 to 3.03)French fried * 6.59 * (4.35 to 8.83)Boiled, baked, or mashed 0.99 (0.36 to 1.61)<0.001 in all

Whole vs Refined Grains

Whole grains −0.59 (−0.65 to −0.53)

Refined grains +0.56 (0.28 to 0.83)

Participants with greater increases in physical activity gained 1.76 fewer pounds within each 4-year period.Absolute levels of physical activity were not associated with weight change

Sleep duration had a U-shaped association with weight gain, with greater weightgain occurring with less than 6 hours or more than 8 hours of sleep per night.

Increases in time spent watching television (per hour per day) were independently associated with weight gain 0.31 lbAverage American watches 5 hr TV/day = 1.5 lb

inversely associatedwith the intake of vegetables (−0.22 lb), whole grains (−0.37 lb), fruits (−0.49 lb), nuts(−0.57 lb), and yogurt (−0.82 lb)

Other lifestyle factors were independently associated with weight change, including physical activity (−1.76 lb across quintiles);alcohol use (0.41 lb per drink per day), sleep (more weight gain with <6 or >8 hours of sleep), and television watching (0.31 lb per hour per day).

Full vs Low Fat Dairy

Whole-fat dairy foods +0.25 (0.05 to 0.45)Butter +0.47 (0.23 to 0.71)Cheese +0.13 (−0.08 to 0.34)Whole-fat milk +0.08 (−0.05 to 0.22)

Low-fat dairy foods −0.17 (−0.21 to −0.13)Low-fat or skim milk −0.02 (−0.11 to 0.07)Yogurt −1.16 (−1.48 to −0.84)