foodconsumer.org: Drinking vegetable juice helps weight loss

Drinking vegetable juice helps weight loss
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admin on 04/21/2009 14:34:00
 
Tuesday April 21, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- Drinking at least one glass of
vegetable juice per day helps overweight people with metabolic syndrome lose
more weight, according to a new study presented at this week's Experimental
Biology Meeting.
The study led by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine showed that
overweight people who drank at least 8 ounces of low sodium vegetable juice as
part of a calorie-controlled DASH diet lost four pounds during 12 weeks while
those who used the same diet, but drank no vegetable juice, lost merely one
pound.
Metabolic syndrome refers to a cluster of risk factors including excess body
fat, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and abnormal blood lipids, which if
uncontrolled can be a risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke or
diabetes.
For the study, the researchers assigned two groups of participants to drink one
or two cups of Low Sodium V8 100% vegetable juice each day for a period of 12
weeks in addition to a DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet
consisting of lean meat, lower fat dairy, whole grains, vegetables and fruit and
having saturated fat, total fat, cholesterol and sodium in check. The third
group only used the same DASH diet.
In addition to the increased weight loss, the study groups were more likely than
the controls to meet the government recommendations of 3 to 5 servings of
vegetables a day and they had higher intakes of vitamin C and potassium and
lower intake of carbohydrates.
(Written by David Liu and edited by Heather Kelley)