Macro partitioning
A low-protein diet (15% protein) during the weight maintenance phase may lead to a deterioration in the Free Androgen Index (FAI) compared to a high-protein diet, potentially reversing some metabolic benefits achieved during weight loss.
When you stop dieting and start maintaining your weight, be careful with very low-protein diets. This study suggests that a low-protein diet might cause your androgen levels (like testosterone) to creep back up, undoing some of the hormonal benefits you gained from weight loss. Keeping protein intake moderate to high may help maintain these improvements.
On the LP diet, high density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased 10% during energy restriction (P < 0.008), and the free androgen index increased 44% in weight maintenance stages (P < 0.027).
Why this rating
Statistically significant but driven by a small number of outliers (two subjects); not robust enough for broad clinical guidelines.
Source
Dietary Composition in Restoring Reproductive and Metabolic Physiology in Overweight Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Lisa Moran et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2003
DOI 10.1210/jc.2002-020815
More from this paper
- Energy restriction and weight loss improve menstrual cyclicity, insulin sensitivity, and lipid profiles in overweight women with PCOS, regardless of whether the diet is high-protein or low-protein.Good
- A high-protein diet (30% protein) may offer minor differential improvements in lipid profiles (specifically maintaining HDL-C) and postprandial glucose response compared to a low-protein diet during energy restriction, but does not improve reproductive outcomes.Moderate
Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
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