Diet Programs May Not Help Dodge Disease Risk

[Guest guest]

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 26 - Diet and exercise interventions to reduce

obesity may not help stave off disease since people tend to gain the weight

back, according to a new Australian report.

Published in the January International Journal of Obesity, Dr. Lennert

Veerman and colleagues note the focus of such programs may need to change if

they're really going to have a lasting effect.

To test the potential impact of different diets, the researchers ran two

computer simulations on an overweight and obese population in 2003: One

included a low-fat diet, the other a diet rich in whole grains and

vegetables plus 180 minutes of exercise per week.

Outcome measures were disability adjusted life years (DALYs) averted,

incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) and proportions of disease

burden avoided.

According to the models, people lost an average of 8 to 12 pounds on the

diets and kept the weight off for an average of 6 months. But the pounds

slowly crept back on, and after less than 6 years, the dieters were back

where they started -- negating any improvement in health from the weight

loss.

In addition, the researchers estimate that only about 3% of Australia's

population would participate in weight-loss programs.

" Interventions that try to change the behavior of individuals but do nothing

about the environment in which these people live, are likely to have modest

and temporary effects at best, " said Dr. Veerman of the University of

Queensland in Brisbane.

" They are not the solution for the obesity epidemic -- more, and different,

interventions have to be taken, " he added in an e-mail to Reuters Health.

Along with continued counseling to help people keep weight off long-term,

Dr. Veerman suggests a 'junk food tax' and better nutrition labeling. These

did seem to have an overall positive effect on health in a parallel study,

published in November in the same journal.

In the US, 73% of adults are overweight or obese, according to the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the surgeon general, the annual cost of obesity is $117 billion

in the US, including health care spending and lost productivity.

" We understand that weight loss programs that we have now are really helpful

for individuals, " said Dr. Hollie Raynor, associate professor of nutrition

at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, who was not involved in the

study. " But the challenge seems to be, how do we help individuals maintain

this weight loss over time? "

Dr. Veerman concluded, " the fact that not everybody (who's) overweight wants

to, or can, participate reduces its overall effect on the overweight-related

burden of disease in the population. "

*International Journal of Obesity*. Posted online January 11, 2011.

Abstract<http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ijo2010246a.html>

LINK at medscape.com

--

Ortiz, MS, RD

*The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

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