Diet and sport are not enough against obesity | Eating disorders and obesity

Casting aspersions on the effectiveness of current weight management programmes focused on dieting and exercise, it has been found that chances of obese people recovering normal body weight are very slim, shows research.

United Kingdom researchers tracked the weight of nearly 280,000 people between 2004 and 2014. For those people who achieved 5% weight loss, 53% regained this weight within 2 years and 78% within 5 years.

However, she believes that their study should pave the way for improvements in addressing obesity by preventing further weight gain in diagnosed patients.

The probability of a moderately obese person (BMI of 30-35) attaining normal body weight following a weight management intervention is 1 in 210 for men and 1 in 124 for women. A minimum of three body mass index records per patient was used to estimate weight changes. In fact, the possibility of weight loss is only 1 out of 124 for women and 1 out of 210 for men.

Many participants displayed a yo-yo pattern of weight loss followed by weight gain.

“The thing that I was discouraged about was that individuals had a hard time even maintaining that 5 percent weight loss”.

Study first author Dr. Alison Fildes emphasized how important it is for people to lose weight.

Eureka Alert also writes that weight cycling may be one of the reasons, as it is highly observed among the individuals in the study.

“The main treatment options offered to obese patients in the United Kingdom are weight management programs accessed via their GP. Once an adult becomes obese, it is very unlikely that they will return to a healthy body weight”, Fildes added.

The researchers suggest the need for bariatric-metabolic surgery to be performed after an adequate, careful risk-benefit study in high-volume centers with multi-disciplinary teams experienced in the management of obesity and diabetes, as it is crucial that patients receive a regular postoperative nutritional monitoring, with special attention required for a balanced diet regimen following surgery, monitoring of micronutrient status, and individualized nutritional supplementation.

“The greatest opportunity for stemming the current obesity epidemic is in wider-reaching public health policies to prevent obesity in the population”.