African American women who consumed a diet high in vegetables and fruit gained less weight over a 14-year period than those who consumed a diet high in red meat and fried foods, investigators from the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University have found.

This is the first prospective study to show that a healthier diet is associated with less weight gain in African American women, a population with a high prevalence of obesity.

The study results were based on data from the Black Women`s Health Study (BWHS), a large follow-up study of 59,000 African American women from across the U.S. conducted since 1995.

Five fruits and vegetables per day

The researchers found that women who consumed a diet high in vegetables and fruit gained less weight over 14 years than women whose diets were low in these foods. Women who consumed a diet high in meat and fried foods gained more weight than women with low intake of these foods.

`A diet high in red meat and fried foods can lead to consuming too many calories because these foods contain more calories than the same amount of vegetables and fruit,` said lead author and researcher Dr. Deborah Boggs.

The study has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Text: ANI
Image: Flickr/creativecommons jon aslund