Dr. Ursula White, an associate professor of Clinical Science at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, is taking a deep dive into the lasting health effects of short-term weight gain and weight loss. The ability for the fat tissue to expand or contract to accommodate changes in body weight is important for sustained health.
Dr. White's clinical study at Pennington Biomedical, the EAT2 study, will allow her to explore how changes within the adipose tissue are affected by weight gain and weight loss, and what that means for a person's health. The EAT2 study is recruiting participants now, and participants will be randomly assigned to the two groups – a control group that is weight stable and group with a diet that promotes weight gain.
Both groups will participate in a dietary intervention program for 8 weeks, but those in the weight gain group will also be provided with an eight-week weight loss treatment following the dietary intervention. "This study is unique in that it will explore what exactly happens to your heath during periods of weight gain and weight loss and how the fat tissue can mediate these changes," said Dr. White, who is the director of the Physiology of Human Adipose Tissue Lab at Pennington Biomedical.
"Yes, the active group will be prescribed a diet intended to promote weight gain, but those participants will also receive weight loss guidance during the study. Several active participants have shared that they lost more weight than they gained, and while t.
