A sustained modest weight - loss of five
to 10 % body - weight
is associated with improvements in various indices of cardiometabolic
health including but not limited
to insulin sensitivity, vascular function, blood pressure and lipid levels.3 These
beneficial effects of weight - loss can
be partially explained by accompanying reductions in adipose tissue mass and dysfunction.5 There
is however, some evidence
to suggest that energy restriction (ER)
alone can confer metabolic changes which
are independent
to those of weight - loss, by facilitating an acute negative energy balance 6 - 9 and / or by activating adaptive stress response pathways.10