Overweight and obese dieters who participated in a new global study lost more than two times as much weight by following the Weight Watchers program, as compared to others who only received weight-loss counseling from medical professionals. Published initially in The Lancet, the study was the first of its kind and resulted from a unique partnership between primary care physicians and the Weight Watchers community.
772 participants were asked to join the 12-month study by primary care physicians across the UK, Germany and Australia. Close to half of the participants were randomly selected to receive a free year long membership to Weight Watchers, which included access to weekly meetings, while the other half were asked to attend monthly meetings with a medical professional to discuss weight loss strategies.
Researchers included Dr. Susan Webb, who is the head of diet and population health at the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research Lab in Cambridge, as well as Professor Hans Hauner at The Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universitat Munchen, and Professor Ian Caterson at the Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders in Sydney.
The results of the study carry clear implications for dieters around the world, as participants who took part in the Weight Watchers program lost more than twice as much weight as those who only received counseling from traditional medical professionals. Also of note, members of the Weight Watchers group were more than three times as likely to lose at least 10% of their total starting weight and 61% of this group lost at least 5% of their total body weight during the course of the year. By comparison, only 32% of those in the standard care group lost at least 5% of their total starting weight.
Since losing between 5 and 10% of your total body weight has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of serious health problems such as diabetes and heart disease, while simultaneously increasing your overall level of health, the study has shed new light on the effectiveness of programs such as Weight Watchers, giving new hope to people around the world who are struggling with their weight. Participants in the Weight Watchers control group also exhibited a greater reduction of waist size and overall body fat.
Obesity is a serious problem in all parts of the developed world, with the US expected to have at least 65 million additional obese adults by 2030 and the UK projected to have at least 11 million by this time. In addition to highlighting the overall effectiveness of Weight Watchers, the study also shows the benefits of physician intervention and referrals to the program, indicating that this method could be implemented as a way to help those who are struggling with excess weight.
“Trials like this are vital to identify effective interventions to tackle obesity and provide the evidence to inform policy decisions,” said Dr. Susan Jebb. “The similar weight losses achieved in Australia, Germany and the UK implies that this commercial program, in partnership with primary care providers, is a robust intervention which is likely to be generalizable to other economically developed countries with a Western lifestyle.”
Sources: CBS MarketWatch, CNN Health
