The warm season begins and immediately we think about losing weight to be ready for the costume test. Here’s why choosing the Nordic diet.
In reality, following a healthy and balanced diet is important 365 days a year, regardless of whether you need to lose weight or not. Sometimes you just need to change your meal plan by inserting the right foods to improve our health. However, contacting your doctor is essential.
Everyone knows the Mediterranean diet. Considered a real lifestyle, this diet focuses on the choice and combination of foods using the food pyramid. Among many others, the “Nordic diet” is spreading. The Nordic diet is based on the diet used by the Nordic countries. For this reason it is also called the Viking diet.
Nordic diet, well-being for health without many sacrifices
Scientific studies show that this diet would have beneficial effects on the metabolism by improving various aspects of health. There Nordic diet is inspired by the typical diet of the Nordic countries consisting of berries, fish, root vegetables and rapeseed oil. For some researchers this diet affects the glucose metabolism, on cholesterolreducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The study published in “The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” is titled “Health Effect of the New Nordic Diet in Adults with Increased Waist Circumference: A 6-Month Randomized Controlled Study”.
The research is still in an experimental phase and the studies are usually based on questionnaires considered too subjective for tools. In this research it appears that gods were used biomarcatori. These are only useful for researchers to measure the effects of diet on health more objectively and accurately.
In fact, researchers from the University of Aarhus in Denmark using data from a randomized control study evaluated the effects of the Nordic diet on glucose metabolism, on blood lipid profiles and inflammatory markers. The research dates back to 2013.
I study
200 participants with an average age of 55 years took part in the research overweight and with metabolic syndrome. During the first 4 weeks, the participants consumed their typical diets. Afterward, the researchers randomly delivered the Nordic diet and the control diet.
Subjects in the Nordic diet group were instructed to increase consumption of products based on whole grains (rye and barley), berries, fruits and vegetables. Instead, the control group had to eat low-fiber wheat products, including refined white bread and pasta, but don’t moderate your consumption of fruits and vegetables.
Finally, both diets had the same number of calories to keep the participants’ weight stable. He was also in charge of providing urine and blood samples at the beginning and end of the research and at week 12.
The conclusion
The researchers followed the progress of the diets for 18 or 24 weeks. Next, they analyzed data from 98 subjects in the Nordic diet group and 71 in the control diet group.
The result is that participants in the Nordic diet group were found to have higher levels of metabolites. Researchers link this increase to improved glucose and cholesterol regulation and thus a possible reduction in cardiovascular disease. Although no participant lost weight during the research, the study found a lowering of triglycerides.
Considering that the research is from 2013, the researchers still claim that fish, flaxseed, sunflower and rapeseed, staples of the Nordic diet, contain healthy fats. This means that a good diet can improve some aspects of health, even without weight loss.
At the conclusion of the study, the researchers positively evaluated the use of metabolites to highlight the health benefits of different diets. Furthermore, the scientific community agrees that this research can also be used for other types of diets. This is because many of the foods included in the Nordic diet are contained in many others.
(The information in the article is for informational purposes only and concerns scientific studies published in medical journals. Therefore, it does not replace the consultation of a doctor or specialist, and should not be considered for formulating treatments or diagnoses)