The University of Navarra needs the partnership of 120 overweight or moderately obese people to conduct a study on diet and health. The research has as goal to evaluate the healthy effect of fish constituents on hypertension and elevated cholesterol and blood glucose, as well as its benefits for bones and weight control. The project is part of an initiative sponsored by the European Union, in which 320 people of different nationalities will participate.

An interdisciplinary team from department of Physiology and Nutrition, led by Full Professor in Nutrition Alfredo Martínez, will be in charge of developing the initiative. Each volunteer will be randomly assigned one of the weight loss diet models: rich in oily fish (with salmon), rich in white fish (with cod), supplemented with omega-3 or without this supplement.

Lose one kilo per week

Participants will have to follow the assigned per diem expenses for 8 consecutive weeks, during which they will be asked to continue with their normal habits (such as smoking or moderate exercise). The four patterns are designed to lose between half a kilo and one kilo per week, in a way that does not pose any health risk, according to those responsible for the study.

The research will be provided free of charge. In this way, consultations with doctors and dieticians of the department of Physiology and Nutrition of the University of Navarra will be free of charge for the volunteers.

To cooperate in the initiative you must be between 20 and 40 years of age and have a body mass index (BMI) between 27.5 and 32.5 kg/m2. A simple way to calculate the BMI is to divide the weight by the height and divide the obtained result again by the height. That is, if a person weighs 69.1 kilograms and is 1.48 meters tall, the operations will work like this:

69.1 / 1.48 = 46.69; 46.69 / 1.48 = 31.54 BMI = 31.54 kg/ m2

Participants will have to follow the assigned per diem expenses for 8 consecutive weeks, during which they will be asked to continue with their normal habits (such as smoking or moderate exercise). The four patterns are designed to lose between half a kilo and one kilo per week, in a way that does not pose any health risk, according to those responsible for the study.