Gaby
A team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh claims that young men on a low-calorie diet lose fat deposits twice as fast as their female peers. However, once women reach the age of 45, this difference in weight loss rates disappears.
The effectiveness of diets, according to the researchers, is influenced by the female hormone estrogen. It likely slows down calorie expenditure in women of childbearing age, as these reserves are necessary for childbirth.
Meanwhile, women approaching menopause or who have already entered this stage of life find it easier to shed extra pounds by following low-calorie diets. This is undoubtedly good news for older women, as reported by the Daily Mail.
What the Researchers Discovered
To make dieting efforts more successful, women should aim to reach the age of 45. According to a new study, women in this age group can lose about 10 percent of their fat reserves by cutting calories over the course of a month. This is more than younger women are able to achieve.
The research team involved 42 volunteers of both genders, aged between 21 and 61. All participants were overweight or obese, eagerly responding to a newspaper advertisement about a weight loss study.
Over four weeks, participants ate three meals a day, reducing their calorie intake by an average of 30 percent.
Men consumed an average of 1,600 calories per day, while women consumed 1,300.
When the scientists analyzed the results, it became clear that men on the diet lost weight more effectively than women at any age. Young men, in particular, lost twice as much fat as their female counterparts.
As a result of the experiment, men under 45 lost over 16 percent of their fat, while women in the same age group lost only 8 percent.
For participants aged 45 and older, however, the results regarding fat reduction were identical. Both women and men lost an average of 10 percent of their fat due to the low-calorie diet.
The same pattern was observed in an experiment involving 96 mice. Under a low-calorie diet, young female mice burned fat more slowly than males. The conclusion was the same: fat tissue is important for fertility and reproduction.
This means that women find it easier to lose fat through dieting when it is no longer needed—after their reproductive years.
According to Dr. William Koutourn, the lead researcher, these results are encouraging for women who have struggled with excess weight in their younger years. Now they have a strong incentive not to give up and to continue their fight.
Dr. Koutourn believes that low-calorie diets have many health benefits. They can, in particular, help people age “correctly.”
Some previous studies have shown that the effectiveness of low-calorie diets can differ between men and women. However, this new research demonstrates for the first time that these gender differences largely disappear when both groups diet at an older age, Koutourn added.
The team plans to conduct further research to understand why it becomes increasingly difficult for men to burn belly fat as they age. Perhaps “beer bellies” are partly to blame.
The study’s results were published in the journal eLife.
