An increase in dietary protein intake has been shown to improve weight loss maintenance in the DIOGenes trial. Here, we analysed whether the source of the dietary proteins influenced changes in body weight, body composition, and cardiometabolic risk factors during the weight maintenance period while following an energy-restricted diet. 489 overweight or obese participants of the DIOGenes trial from eight European countries were included. They successfully lost >8% of body weight and subsequently completed a six month weight maintenance period, in which they consumed an ad libitum diet varying in protein content and glycemic index. Dietary intake was estimated from three-day food diaries. A higher plant protein intake with a proportional decrease in animal protein intake did not affect body weight maintenance or cardiometabolic risk factors. A higher plant protein intake from non-cereal products instead of cereal products was associated with benefits for body weight maintenance and blood pressure. Substituting meat protein for protein from other animal sources increased insulin and HOMA-IR (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance). This analysis suggests that not only the amount of dietary proteins, but also the source may be important for weight and cardiometabolic risk management. However, randomized trials are needed to test the causality of these associations.

Department of Clinical Nutrition German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam Rehbrücke 14558 Nuthetal Germany

Department of Human Biology NUTRIM School for Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism Maastricht University Medical Centre 6200MD Maastricht The Netherlands

Department of Nutrition Exercise and Sports Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen 2200 Copenhagen Denmark

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology Faculty of Medicine Medical University 1000 Sofia Bulgaria

Department of Physiology and Nutrition University of Navarra 31008 Pamplona Spain

Department of Social Medicine Preventive Medicine and Nutrition Clinic University of Crete 71003 Heraklion Greece

Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences University of Oxford Oxford OX2 6GG UK

Obesity Management Center Institute of Endocrinology 11694 Prague Czech Republic

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