Clinical trials demonstrate effective weight loss strategies

Lifestyle interventions can result in significant weight loss for overweight, obese and severely obese adults, the results of two clinical trials have shown.

Published online this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the studies aimed to assess the effectiveness of structured weight loss programmes.

One of the trials, conducted by Dr Bret Goodpaster, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and colleagues, involved 130 severely obese adult individuals without diabetes.

They took part in a one-year intensive lifestyle intervention study in which all participants were put on a diet, with half made to do physical activity for the entire 12 months and the other half only exercising during the final six months.

"Waist circumference, visceral abdominal fat, hepatic (liver) fat content, blood pressure and insulin resistance were all reduced in both groups," the study's authors explained.

Last month, biologists at the University of California, Riverside, found that the desire to exercise is a heritable trait that can be passed down from one generation to the next.

Would a structured programme help you to lose weight?