Weight loss programme ‘reduces heart disease risk factors’

An intensive lifestyle intervention programme designed to help overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes to lose weight and keep it off has been found to improve diabetes control and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

This was observed in the four-year results from the Look Ahead study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study is evaluating the effect of reduced caloric intake and increased physical activity on the occurrence of major cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes.

"This important study shows that lifestyle changes have long-term favourable effects on diabetes control and cardiovascular disease risk factors in overweight or obese individuals with type 2 diabetes," said Dr Griffin Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the primary sponsor of the study.

Last month, a special issue of the European Journal of Cancer revealed that being overweight is one of the main risk factors for cancer and a number of other health problems.

What are you doing to try to lose weight?