Study finds that Nordic diet lowers cholesterol and blood sugar, even if you don’t lose weight

A wholesome Nordic eating regimen can forestall a variety of illnesses. Till now, the well being advantages that researchers had attributed to a Nordic eating regimen primarily centered on weight reduction. However in a brand new examine, College of Copenhagen researchers and their Nordic colleagues discovered clear proof {that a} Nordic eating regimen can decrease blood sugar and levels of cholesterol even with out weight reduction. Specifically, they level to the composition of dietary fat as a attainable rationalization for the eating regimen’s constructive results.

Berries, veggies, fish, entire grains and rapeseed oil: These are the primary substances of the Nordic eating regimen idea that for the previous decade, has been acknowledged as extraordinarily wholesome, tasty and sustainable. The eating regimen can forestall weight problems and scale back the chance of heart problems, kind 2 diabetes, hypertension and excessive ldl cholesterol.

Till now, Nordic eating regimen analysis has primarily been linked to the eating regimen’s constructive well being impact following weight reduction. However a brand new evaluation carried out by College of Copenhagen researchers, amongst others, makes it clear {that a} Nordic eating regimen has constructive well being advantages, no matter whether or not one loses weight or not.

“It is shocking as a result of most individuals consider that constructive results on blood sugar and ldl cholesterol are solely because of weight reduction. Right here, we’ve discovered this to not be the the case. Different mechanisms are additionally at play,” explains Lars Ove Dragsted, a researcher and head of part on the College of Copenhagen’s Division of Diet, Train and Sports activities.

Along with researchers from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland, Dragsted examined blood and urine samples from 200 individuals over the age of fifty, all with elevated BMI and elevated danger of diabetes and heart problems. The individuals have been divided into two teams—one supplied meals in keeping with Nordic dietary suggestions and a management group on their ordinary eating regimen. After six months of monitoring, the end result was clear.

“The group that had been on the Nordic eating regimen for six months grew to become considerably more healthy, with decrease levels of cholesterol, decrease general ranges of each saturated and unsaturated fats within the blood, and higher regulation of glucose, in comparison with the management group. We stored the group on the Nordic eating regimen weight-stable, that means that we requested them to eat extra in the event that they misplaced weight. Even with out weight reduction, we might see an enchancment of their well being,” explains Lars Ove Dragsted.

The fats makes us wholesome

As an alternative of weight reduction alone, the researchers level to the distinctive composition of fat in a Nordic eating regimen as a attainable rationalization for the numerous well being advantages.

“By analyzing the blood of individuals, we might see that those that benefited most from the dietary change had totally different fat-soluble substances than the management group. These are substances that look like linked to unsaturated fatty acids from oils within the Nordic eating regimen. It is a signal that Nordic dietary fat in all probability play essentially the most vital function for the well being results seen right here, which I hadn’t anticipated,” says Lars Ove Dragsted.

Fat within the Nordic eating regimen come from fish, flaxseeds, sunflower and rapeseed, amongst different issues. As an entire, they represent a extremely useful combine for the physique, though the researchers have but to precisely clarify why these fat appear to decrease each blood sugar and levels of cholesterol.

“We will solely speculate as to why a change in fats composition advantages our well being so vastly. Nonetheless, we are able to verify that the absence of extremely processed meals and fewer saturated fat from animals have a really constructive impact on us. So, the fats composition within the Nordic eating regimen, which is larger in omega-3 and omega-6 unsaturated fat, might be a substantial a part of the reason for the well being results we discover from the Nordic eating regimen, even when the load of individuals stays fixed,” concludes Lars Ove Dragsted.