Overweight and Obesity Management Threats

Small changes to calorie intake and physical activity levels do not prevent long-term weight gain better than monitoring alone, according to a trial done by researchers. The finding is published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. More than 63% of Canadian adults currently live with overweight or obesity, which contributes to chronic health conditions.

The new trial involved 320 sedentary adults aged 25–70 years living with overweight or obesity (body mass index between 25 and 39.9 kg/m2). The mean age of participants was 52.6 years, and 77% were female.

They were randomized to either monitoring alone or to a small change approach that involved reducing caloric intake by 100 kilocalories per day or increasing physical activity by 2000 steps a day throughout the 2-year study.

The results showed that the small change approach was not more effective than monitoring alone in preventing weight gain at 2 or 3 years in adults with overweight or obesity.

Although the small change approach led to reduced weight at 3, 6, 12, and 15 months, by 24 months the prevention of weight gain did not differ from that associated with monitoring alone. On average, prevention of weight gain was observed in both arms of the trial.

The study results contrasted with those of a previous study that showed the small change approach prevented weight gain over 3 years in a large sample of young adults with overweight.

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However, in a sub-analysis, the authors observed that weight gain was prevented in adults with overweight, but not those with obesity.

Researchers conclude that the lack of evidence on physical activity and chronic disease prevention in people with disabilities calls for more research.

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Source-Medindia