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Weight Watchers more effective than psychologist-led programs
In a head-to-head contest pitting a pair of psychologist-led "behavioral
weight loss" programs against a 48-week membership to Weight Watchers, a
new study found that subjects participating in the ubiquitous
commercial program stuck with their regimen longer and shed more pounds.
The study, published Tuesday in the journal Obesity, suggests that
physicians scrambling for ways to counsel overweight and obese patients
may be best served by referring them to well-established commercial
programs with a track record of working.
"Weight Watchers really can produce clinically meaningful weight loss
for a lot of people," said study leader Angela Marinilli Pinto. "It can
be very convenient for people to access, and professional programs don't
always have that convenience and accessibility."
Researchers found that Weight Watchers subjects attended more
meetings, used the program's electronic tools more frequently and were
more likely to see the study through to its end than were those in the
other two groups. In all, 37% of people in the Weight Watchers group
lost 10% of their body weight, compared with 15% of those in the
combination-therapy group and 11% of those who didn't use Weight
Watchers at all.
The findings come as physicians are girding for an all-out fight against obesity that places them on the front lines of battle.
These changes are prompting doctors to consider whether and how they can
profitably deliver such services to their obese patients.
"We can provide this service, but we're not optimized for it right now,"
said Dr. Jeffrey Mechanick, president-elect of the AACE.
That may place greater pressure on the weight loss programs already
available in the communities where the nation's 78 million obese people
live. The federal task force cited only one — a diabetes prevention
program offered at a small number of YMCA sites nationwide — as meeting
its standards of effectiveness.
◎Weight Watchers bested other weight loss programs, study finds
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/10/science/la-sci-weight-watchers-20121010
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130520ada535f716bd07de5a7d12651afc7ce987b.wma
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