U.S. doctors advise that in order to prevent health problems in obese patients, intensive behavioral changes focused on improving things like exercise habits and eating may be the best prescription.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended that obese adults should receive counseling and other helpful programs to guide them stick to a healthy diet, increase or maintain physical activity and also address and understand obstacles in losing weight, in a study released on September 19.
Task Force member Dr. Chyke Doubeni of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia said that this advice is not new as they also made a similar recommendation in 2012 but recent research confirmed that behavioral approaches really can help people achieve weight loss and health improvement.
"The additional evidence shows that obesity continues to impact many Americans and that interventions to promote healthy diet and exercise work," Doubeni said as per Reuters. "This recommendation re-emphasizes that clinicians can really help adults with obesity by offering or referring them to intensive, multicomponent behavioral interventions. These interventions - which can include things like group counseling, one-on-one counseling in-person, and online resources - have been proven to help people lose weight and be healthier, so we continue to recommend that clinicians offer or refer their patients to them."
Obesity is linked to many chronic health problems like heart disease, joint damage, diabetes, certain cancers, and mobility limitations. Obese people also have a greater risk of premature death.
Dr. Erin LeBlanc of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research Northwest in Portland said that weight loss interventions tested in recent studies vary widely.
"However, specific weight loss messages and behavior change techniques were consistent across the trials," she added. "Most of the interventions involved group, individual, and technology-based education and counseling that was designed to help participants achieve a five percent or greater weight loss through a combination of dietary changes (including specific caloric goals) and a gradual increase in physical activity (generally promoting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week)."
Dr. Susan Yanovski, author of an accompanying editorial and co-director of the Office of Obesity Research with the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland said while these efforts may translate into meaningful weight loss for others, it may not be applicable for some too.
"Some individuals with obesity don't respond to even the best behavioral treatment with enough weight loss to improve health," Yanovski said. "Obesity medications added to behavioral treatment can be helpful for some patients," Yanovski added. "In addition, patients with severe obesity may benefit from bariatric surgery, which has been shown to improve a number of obesity-related medical conditions."
"Weight loss medications and bariatric surgery are additional strategies which can be combined with behavioral intervention to reduce food intake and increase physical activity," Haire-Joshu, author of an accompanying editorial said, as reported by Reuters. "Primarily medication and surgery offer options for patients who have been unable to successfully lose weight or maintain a goal weight and/or are exhibiting health problems related to their weight."
