Guest guest Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/749323?src=mp & spon=22 From Heartwire <http://theheart.org/> Weight Watchers Doubles Weight Loss Compared With GPs Nainggolan September 7, 2011 (Cambridge, United Kingdom) - People who attended a commercial weight-loss program, Weight Watchers, lost twice as much weight over a year as those who were given standard care by their primary-care provider, a new randomized, controlled trial shows [1]. Dr A Jebb (MRC Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge, UK) and colleagues report their findings in a study published online September 7, 2011 in the Lancet. The study, conducted in the UK, Australia, and Germany, is the first to illustrate that a commercial provider--for which people normally pay themselves--is more effective for weight loss than primary-care management, say Drs Kate Jolly and Aveyard (University of Birmingham, UK) in an accompanying comment [2]. Jebb et al assigned 377 overweight or obese participants to the Weight Watchers program, of whom 230 (61%) completed the 12-month assessment. In this study, the participants attended Weight Watchers free of charge. The remaining 395 overweight or obese people were assigned to standard of care in their given country, of whom 214 (54%) completed 12 months. Of those who completed the 12 months, those attending Weight Watchers lost a mean of 6.7 kg compared with 3.3 kg in those who got standard care. The greater weight loss in those assigned to Weight Watchers was accompanied by larger reductions in waist circumference and fat mass than in participants assigned to standard care, note Jebb et al. " Data from our study suggest that referral of selected participants by a primary-healthcare professional to a commercial weight-loss program . . . can offer a clinically useful intervention for weight management in overweight and obese people that can be delivered large scale, " they state. But they point out that further research is needed to examine long-term weight maintenance. In their comment, Jolly and Aveyard note that although full cost-effectiveness analyses are awaited, commercial weight-loss programs such as Weight Watchers are generally cheap, at about £50 to £60 for 12 weeks, so they suggest that healthcare systems should fund patients to attend such schemes. " This commercial program is available in at least 30 countries, so the results are likely to be widely generalizable, " they observe. But they note that men are probably less likely to attend such programs, which tend to be female-dominated. Weight Watchers International funded the trial, through a grant to the UK Medical Research Council. Disclosures for the coauthors are listed in the paper. References <javascript:newshowcontent('active','references');> 1. Jebb SA, Ahern AL, Olson AD et al. Primary care referral to a commercial provider for weight loss treatment versus standard care: a randomized controlled trial. Lancet 2011; DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61344-5. Available at: http://www.thelancet.com. 2. Jolly K and Aveyard P. Provision of commercial weight management programmes. Lancet 2011; DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61186-0. Available at: http://www.thelancet.com. S. Kalman PhD, RD, FACN Director, BD - Nutrition & Applied Clinical Trials Miami Research Associates 6141 Sunset Drive Suite 301 Miami, FL. 33143 Direct - Office ext. 5109 Fax Email: dkalman@... Web: www.miamiresearch.com Help Cure Crohn's & Colitis: Team Challenge <http://www.active.com/donate/vegas11southfl/SFLDKalman> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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