Eating more protein may help you shed weight

One way to lose weight? Eating more protein could be a guiding goal, at least according to a new survey.

While dieters are faced with myriad options for shedding extra kilos, University of Minnesota researchers wanted to see how simply eating more protein could affect the weight-loss efforts of middle-aged women.

In the study, 1,824 women aged 40 to 60 years old were asked what they knew about dietary protein and if they ate more protein as a way to prevent weight gain. Women were also asked to correctly identity "good protein sources," such as salmon, and the recommended amount of protein in the diet.

"Eating more protein" -- which could be as simple as opting for fish in lieu of pasta -- was reported by 43 percent of the women as a way to prevent weight gain. When researchers looked at current protein consumption and changes in weight over the following two years, they found that the women who reported "eating more protein" had lost weight.

The survey was published in the May edition of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

A separate study promoting protein-rich diets for weight loss is from the University of Missouri-Columbia, which found that eating a protein-packed breakfast can help you shed weight. In the study, dieters who consumed 35 grams of protein for breakfast snacked less throughout the day and reported more control over food cravings. Findings appeared in March in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.