Effects of High Protein and Balanced Diets on Lipid Profiles and Inflammation Biomarkers in Obese and Overweight Women at Aerobic Clubs: A Randomized Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND: We studied the effects of high protein (HP) and balanced diets (BDs) on lipid profiles, and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels in obese and overweight women. METHODS: In a parallel designed randomized controlled clinical trial, 60 healthy women with body mass index ≥25 kg/m(2), aged 20–46 years, enrolled in an 8-week investigation at aerobic clubs. They were categorized into two groups (HP and BDs), randomly. Fasting lipid profile and hs-CRP levels were evaluated at the beginning and end of the trial. We assessed dietary intake by 3-day records and also used SPSS (version 18; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for data analyzing. RESULTS: Fifty-six participants completed the intervention. Concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P < 0.001 in BD group vs. P =0.023 in HP group) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P < 0.001 in BD group vs. P =0.002 in HP group) increased significantly in both groups. Circulating triglycerides levels increased in both intervention grows, but the change in the HP group was not significant compared with the other group (P = 0.007 in BD group vs. P =0.099 in HP group). Whereas total cholesterol concentration decreased but not significantly so (P = 0.53 in BD group vs. P =0.73 in HP group). There were marginally significant decreases in the hs-CRP levels due to both diets (P = 0.057 in BD group vs. P =0.086 in HP group); however, there were no significant differences between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Administration of HP and BD in overweight and obese women with regular aerobic exercise showed improvement in lipid profiles and hs-CRP levels within the groups, but there were no significant differences between groups.