Liquid Meal Replacement vs Traditional Food: A Potential Model for Women Who Cannot Maintain Eating Habit Change

Rothacker DQ, et al. J Am Diet Assoc. 2001;101:345-347.

Objective

To compare the effects of a meal replacement plan and a traditional diet plan on body weight and body composition.

Methods

Seventy-five overweight or obese but healthy women were randomized to either a weight reducing diet utilizing conventional foods (control) or to a dietary regimen, whereby subjects could replace from 1 to 3 meals with a powdered nutrient-dense shake reconstituted with skimmed milk (meal replacement [MR], Slim·Fast). There was minimal instruction in this 1-year study in which the recommended caloric intake was 1200 kcal/d.

Results

Sixty-four of the women completed the study (85%) with no reported side effects. At 12 weeks the MR group lost significantly more weight (P<0.008) than the control group, 6.3 ± 0.6 kg and 3.8 ± 0.5 kg, respectively. By the end of the 1-year study, the MR group maintained their initial weight loss whereas the control group regained 68% of their original loss (-3.8 kg vs -1.2 kg). At the completion of the study, percent fat mass was significantly decreased in the MR group vs the control group (P<0.002) with no demonstrable change in lean body mass in either group.

Conclusion

Women who had difficulty keeping weight off, once it was lost, had greater success doing so with the aid of liquid meal replacements.

Return to: Previous Page

Back to: Articles and Abstracts