Study design and participants
obesity, weight loss, diabetes
OBESITY, HYPERTENSION, PHYSICAL DISABILITY, DIABETES
In this double-blind, controlled, randomized clinical trial (RCT), implemented between February and August 2019 at the Nutrition Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (TBZMED, Tabriz, Iran), 46 eligible volunteer women with obesity, unwilling to follow weight-reducing diets, aged 19–49 years, and body mass index (BMI) of 30–35 kg/mThe exclusion criteria were as follows: pregnancy, lactation, menopause; history of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular, thyroid, renal, gastrointestinal, hepatic, or active infectious diseases; physical disability; intestinal surgeries, vegetarianism or veganism; vigorous physical activity; following weight loss diets, taking weight-reducing supplements/medications, pro/pre/synbiotics, multivitamins, antacids, antibiotics, or laxative medicines within the last 2 months; taking drugs influencing glucose/lipid metabolism, i.e., antidiabetics, lipid-lowering agents, glucocorticoids, contraceptives, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), β-blockers; steroids, immunosuppressive or anticonvulsant medicines; and smoking or alcohol consumption. At baseline, all participants were requested to sign a written informed consent after a full explanation of the research process; afterward, demographic, medical history, and physical activity questionnaires were filled out for them. Subsequently, anthropometric measurements and the 24-h recall interview were conducted by a nutritionist.This research was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki principles, approved by the Ethics Committee of the TBZMED (ethics-code: IR.TBZMED.REC.1396.747), and registered with the Iranian-Registry-of-Clinical-Trials (