Avoiding weight gain in middle age doesn’t require a complicated change in diet, a new study suggests.
Researchers in the United States analyzed more than two decades of data from almost 137,000 people and found less weight gain among people who ate more whole grains, fruit and nonstarchy vegetables — such as broccoli, carrots and spinach — and fewer refined grains, starchy vegetables and sugary drinks.
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The study, published Wednesday in the BMJ, shows “the quality of the carbohydrates in a person’s diet is much more important than the amount,” said its senior author, Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “You want to increase whole grains and limit starchy vegetables.”
Until now, Willetts said, there hasn’t been a study showing the impact of lowering the amount of refined grains, starchy vegetables and sugary drinks on weight gain.
Read the full report from NBC News.