Meat consumption appears to be a factor for obesity in women, according to a new study presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in New Orleans. Although the reasons are still unclear, high meat intake was associated with obesity in a preliminary study sample of more than 280 women.
More than half of the women classified as having high meat intake were obese, according to body fat percentage. Conversely, only 18.6 percent of women classified as having low meat intake were obese.
The study divided participants into groups classified by low, moderate, and high meat intake per 1,000 calories consumed a day. The low intake group consumed less than 1.9 three-ounce servings of meat per day, as opposed to more than 3.18 servings for the high intake group. Participants were nonsmoking, premenopausal women whose diet was monitored during a seven-day period.
Lead study author Garrett Hoyt says he can only speculate on the physiological causes behind his findings, but several factors may be to blame.
“It’s possible that eating more meat causes people to weigh more, or that people who weigh more eat more meat,” Hoyt said. “That sounds odd, but it’s possible that diets with lots of meat consumption, like the Atkins diet, have attracted people with higher body fat percentages.”
Hoyt points out that vegetarians and semi-vegetarians have been shown to be consistently leaner than meat-eaters. This may be because meat consumption increases insulin levels, which may lead to a hormonal response that leads to body growth.
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Article adapted by MD Only Weblog from original press release.
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The conclusions outlined in this news release are those of the researchers only, and should not be construed as an official statement of the American College of Sports Medicine.
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American College of Sports Medicine
The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More than 20,000 international, national, and regional members are dedicated to advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine.
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