100 Calories Less A Day Helps to Prevent Weight Gain and Diabetes
posted 02/12/03

Just take three fewer bites of that burger and you will stop gaining weight. Or walk an extra mile every day or go up and down the stairs.

That, according to a new analysis.  Official figures now suggest that around 39 per cent of the US population will be obese by 2008 if people continue to gain weight at the current rate - a frightening prospect! Dr James Hill at the University of Colorado suggests the problem of obesity may best be tackled in small, manageable steps.

Hill and his colleagues studied data collected by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. The NHANES data showed that the prevalence of obesity increased from 23 per cent to 31 per cent between 1988 and 1994 in the United States. And if weight gain continues at the present rate, 39 per cent of the US population will be obese in 2008. (Worldwide, over 300 million are obese, according to the World Health Organization).

Using the NHANES and CARDIA data, Hill and his colleagues estimated that individuals are gaining, on average, 14-16 pounds in eight years - an average of 1.8 – 2.0 pounds each year.

Assuming that each pound of body weight gained represents 3500 calories, the researchers calculated that 90 per cent of the population is gaining up to 50 extra calories a day. The body does not store excess energy with 100 per cent efficiency, however. Hill’s team estimated that for every 100 extra calories consumed, at least 50 would be stored as fat. The article appears in the 7 February issue of the Science.

“Nobody really ever talks about numbers, but that’s what we need. Something around 100 calories a day is do-able,” Hill said.

He has calculated that, at present, people are gaining 14 to 16 pounds over an eight year period - that's an extra two pounds a year. The most important thing is to stop weight creeping on like this. A simple approach is to cut out just 100 calories a day - because that's all it takes to put on weight at this rate. A calorie counter will suggest many ways how to do this - but Dr Hill points out that 100 calories is about three bites of a hamburger, or an average cookie.

Cutting down by 100 calories will not make you lose weight - for that, your calorie deficit would have to be more like 500 calories. But it's a start and a basis on which to build. Exercise is the other way of closing the calorie gap - you could also get rid of those 100 unwanted calories by walking an extra mile (about 2,500 steps) a day - either all at once or divided up into small sections.

Source: Diabetes In Control Dot Com: Science 7th February 2003.

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