Dietary intervention promoting high intakes of fruits and vegetables: short-term effects on eating behaviors in overweight-obese postmenopausal women.

Objective: To compare changes in eating behaviors in response to two dietary interventions: one focusing on restrictive messages to limit consumption of high-fat foods (LOFAT) and the other one based on non-restrictive messages to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables (HIFV).

Methods: Sixty-eight overweight-obese postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to one of the two 6-month dietary interventions that included three group sessions and ten individual sessions with a dietitian. Anthropometric variables and eating behaviors were measured at baseline, 3months and 6months.

Results: Body weight decreased significantly in both groups at 6months compared to baseline (LOFAT: -3.5±2.9kg; HIFV: -1.6±2.9kg). At 6months, dietary restraint score was higher in the LOFAT group compared to the HIFV group (12.7±4.2 vs 10.5±4.9; p<0.05). Disinhibition and hunger decreased significantly in the HIFV group after 6months while only hunger decreased in the LOFAT group.

Conclusions: A weight loss approach based on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption leads to a significant weight loss and is associated with a decrease in disinhibition and hunger without any increase in dietary restraint.