A healthy per diem expenses designed to lose weight and reduce complications associated with overweight and obesity also manages to improve symptoms of anxiety and depression in obese people with metabolic syndrome. This is one of the conclusions of the thesis of Aurora Pérez Cornago, doctor of the department of Food Science and Physiology of the School of Pharmacy of the University of Navarra.

Their work, 'Underlying processes behind weight loss in overweight individuals following different energy-restricted diets: psychological, metabolomic and epigenetic mechanisms', has been directed by J. Alfredo Martínez and Marian Zulet, experts in Nutrition at the University of Navarra, members of the high school de research Sanitaria de Navarra (IDISNA) and of the research center Biomédica en network -Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y la Nutrición (CIBERobn).

This study is part of the project RESMENA (Reduction of Metabolic Syndrome in Navarra), funded by the department of Health of the Government of Navarra and the University of Navarra.

After six months of following a hypocaloric per diem expenses , the 100 Navarrese participants significantly lost weight, body fat and waist circumference. In addition, they improved their levels of glucose, cholesterol, transaminases, blood pressure and markers indicative of inflammation and oxidative damage associated with obesity. Proportionally, this dietary patron saint was associated with a 38% reduction in symptoms of depression and a 28% reduction in symptoms of anxiety.

Part of the results of Pérez Cornago's work have been published in scientific journals considered of high impact in their field such as Psychoneuroendocrinology, Clinical Nutrition and Nutrients. This study complements the research of Rocío de la Iglesia and Patricia López Legarrea, both PhDs from the University of Navarra.

To carry out the research Pérez Cornago studied the EuropeanMaster's Degree in Food, Nutrition and Metabolism (E-MENU) at the University of Navarra and the Master's Degree in Public Health at the Public University of Navarra. In addition, during the thesis she did a research stay at University College Dublin, Ireland, for which she obtained a scholarship of mobility from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.