The Atlantic Diet May Shrink Belly Fat and Lower Cholesterol
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Participants who ate the “Atlantic” diet for six months lowered their likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome compared with those who ate a regular diet in a new study published February 7 in JAMA Network Open.
Metabolic syndrome is the term for a group of health factors including larger waist circumference, elevated triglyceride levels, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar.
The positive impact of the Atlantic diet on factors like cholesterol and belly fat found in this study would be expected, says Katherine Patton, RD, who practices with the Cleveland Clinic’s Digestive Disease & Surgery Institute and was not involved in the study. “The Atlantic diet is very similar to the Mediterranean diet, which is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome,” she says. Metabolic syndrome is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, she adds.
It’s estimated that people with metabolic syndrome may have a 50 to 60 percent higher risk of heart disease than people without it.
The findings provide important evidence for the potential of traditional diets to improve critical risk factors for heart disease and other chronic conditions, says the principal investigator, Mar Calvo-Malvar, PhD, a specialist in laboratory medicine at the University Clinical Hospital of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
What Is the Atlantic Diet?
The Atlantic diet is the name investigators gave the traditional dietary pattern in northwestern Spain and Portugal. Although the diet shares similarities with the Mediterranean diet, there are some notable differences, says Dr. Calvo-Malvar.
“Like the Mediterranean diet, the Atlantic diet emphasizes the consumption of fresh, seasonal, and locally sourced foods such as fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses (dry beans, lentils, and chickpeas), fish, dairy products, and olive oil, used for dressing and cooking,” she says. But the Atlantic diet typically includes a greater proportion of fish, milk, potatoes, fruits, and vegetables than the Mediterranean diet, says Calvo-Malvar.
Diet Intervention Focused on Local and Traditional Foods
The six-month study was a secondary analysis of data from a community-focused trial conducted between 2014 and 2015 in the rural town of A Estrada in northwestern Spain. A total of 250 families (574 adults) were randomized to eat either the Atlantic diet, an eating pattern based on traditions and locally available fish, seasonal fresh vegetables and fruits, or the control group, who were instructed to continue to eat their usual diet.
People on the Atlantic diet ate high amounts of fish and seafood along with starch-based foods (like potatoes), dry fruits, cheese, milk, and moderate meat and wine intake. The intervention group also attended nutrition education sessions and cooking classes and received baskets of the types of foods they were encouraged to eat.
Calories consumed, physical activity, medication use, and other variables were assessed at baseline and at the end of the study, and researchers made efforts to control for those factors in their analysis.
Of the 457 people without metabolic syndrome who completed the trial, 23 went on to develop the condition: 6 in the intervention group (2.7 percent of participants) and 17 in the control group (7.3 percent).
Atlantic Diet Led to Reductions in Belly Fat and Bad Cholesterol
Waist circumference and LDL cholesterol (also called “bad” cholesterol) went down in the intervention group, while blood pressure, triglycerides, and fasting blood sugar levels weren’t significantly different.
“These findings are encouraging given the short duration of the intervention, specifically six months with each family, and the challenge of reversing some chronic conditions and comorbidities associated with metabolic syndrome, such as hypertension or diabetes,” says Calvo-Malvar.
It’s worth noting that in Spain (where the trial was held), the healthcare system ensures that most individuals with chronic diseases like hypertension or diabetes receive treatment and their disease is under control, she says.
These findings suggest that the Atlantic diet could be helpful in managing important aspects of health and reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome, says Elisabetta Politi, MPH, RD, a certified diabetes care and education specialist at Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina, who was not involved in the study. “The statistically significant finding of a reduction of waistline circumference is important. We know that carrying extra weight in the abdominal area increases the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes,” she says.
To correctly measure your waist, stand and place a tape measure around your middle, just above your hip bones, and measure just after you breathe out. The risk goes up with a waist size of greater than 35 inches for women or greater than 40 inches for men.
Is the Atlantic Diet Healthier Than the Mediterranean Diet?
The findings from this study are significant, but not because it shows that the Atlantic diet “beats” the Mediterranean diet, or vice versa. That’s not the question to focus on here, says Calvo-Malvar. “Both dietary patterns have been shown to be healthy. I believe the question is not about determining which one is more or less healthy, but rather which dietary pattern best suits the population where it is being promoted,” she says.
There’s no doubt that how we eat is one of the most important modifiable risk factors for heart disease and other chronic diseases, and dietary changes are a key strategy to prevent millions of deaths per year around the world, says Calvo-Malvar.
“However, changing dietary habits is challenging, as habits are influenced by complex and intertwined societal and individual-level factors, including culture, food affordability, immediate friends and family, and the surrounding community,” she says. The assumption that most people would replace unhealthy foods with healthy ones, and stick with those changes, because of the latest research about their associated disease risk, isn’t realistic, says Calvo-Malvar.
“I believe the best diet is one that aligns with the cultural and gastronomic heritage of the area where it is being promoted, featuring local and economically accessible foods,” she says.
Politi agrees. “This study takes important factors into account that many dietary studies leave out: what foods are available locally, what are the cultural factors that shape what people eat, and what do people enjoy and feel better eating,” she says.
By designing a diet that considers the dynamics that influence our food choices, it makes it more likely that people will be able to stick to that healthier eating pattern and reduce their risk of chronic diseases, including heart disease, says Politi.
Interested in the Atlantic Diet? Expert Tips on How to Tweak Your Diet
Several aspects of the Atlantic diet can be adopted to improve our eating habits on this side of the pond.
Cooking techniques People eating the Atlantic diet often prepared their foods by steaming, boiling, baking, grilling, or stewing. “This could translate well here, for example, people who like cooking in a Crock-Pot,” says Politi.
That type of “set it and forget it” slow cooking can make less-tender cuts of meat moist and juicy, she says. “It can also save money because those cuts of meat are often less expensive, and it also allows different parts of the animal to be consumed, rather than just the most tender fillets that we often focus on,” says Politi.
More fish To follow the principles of the Atlantic diet, bump up your pescatarian quotient. “For my clients who eat no fish, I have them start at one serving a week. If they eat one serving, we try to increase that to two,” says Politi.
Healthy swaps Patton recommends starting out with some healthy substitutions. “Swap deli meat for tuna, hummus, and natural nut butter, and swap chips and pretzels for nuts, seeds, fruit, or raw vegetables,” she says.
Change up your burger game by skipping the hamburger and opting for a salmon burger, bean burger, or veggie burger instead, says Patton.
Fewer highly processed foods Highly processed foods like chips and cookies have ingredients that make us want to keep eating them, says Politi. “As a result, we tend to overeat them. I don’t hear many of my clients tell me that they couldn’t stop eating quinoa or brown rice — but it can be hard to put down highly processed snacks,” she says.
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