The yo-yo diet, the bane of dieters everywhere, may actually be beneficial to your health, according to a new study presented earlier this week at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Massachusetts.
According to the study, losing weight and gaining it back again is better than never losing it in the first place.
Researchers from the University of Ohio followed three groups of lab mice over the course of their lifespan. One group of mice was consistently fed a high-fat diet, while a second group was kept on a low-fat regime. The third group was fed a diet that alternated between high and low-fat.
The mice on the alternating diet lived 25 percent longer, on average, than the mice who stayed on the high-fat diet – and they lived nearly as long as those mice who at only low-fat food. The yo-yo mice also had from healthier blood glucose levels and lower levels of cytokine, a hormone linked to diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
"The study adds to our understanding of the benefit of losing weight. I would hope that this encourages people not to give up," said lead author Dr. Edward List.