Dieters can improve their chances of losing weight by replacing carbohydrates with lean meat and dairy products, a leading international nutritionist told a conference in Dublin yesterday.
Danish nutritionist Mr Arne Astrup said the success of the Atkins diet was because lean meat was a better appetite suppressant than high carbohydrate foods. However, he warned that there was "no miracle diet" and exercise is also a key ingredient in losing weight. He said research indicated that people on low calorie/high protein diets tended to lose more weight than those on low calorie/high carbohydrate diets.
"Our studies show that if you want to cut down on fat in your diet, it is wiser to replace it with lean meat or dairy products than carbohydrates like bread or potatoes," he said. Speaking at the European Meat Forum in Dublin, organised by Bord Bia, he said the studies had found that a piece of lean meat with the same amount of calories was more filling than bread with the same calorific content.
Higher protein diet also has the benefit of increasing iron intake. "Fertile females are quite a large proportion of dieters, and 30 per cent of them suffer from some form of iron deficiency," he said.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Joe Walsh, told the conference of his concerns that a new initiative by the European Commission to restart world trade negotiations could damage the agricultural sector in Ireland and the rest of Europe.
He said Europe had already undertaken major reforms of the CAP. "There must be a fair and balanced agreement on agriculture and there can be no question that agriculture will be sacrificed to pay for achieving an overall agreement."