The chance of an obese person attaining normal body
weight is 1 in 210 for men and 1 in 124 for women,
increasing to 1 in 1,290 for men and 1 in 677 for
women with severe obesity, according to a study of
UK health records led by King’s College London. The
findings, published in the American Journal of
Public Health, suggest that current weight
management programmes focused on dieting and
exercise are not effective in tackling obesity at
population level.
The research, funded by the National Institute for
Health Research (NIHR), tracked the weight of
278,982 participants (129,194 men and 149,788) women
using electronic health records from 2004 to 2014.
The study looked at the probability of obese
patients attaining normal weight or a 5% reduction
in body weight; patients who received bariatric
surgery were excluded from the study. A minimum of
three body mass index (BMI) records per patient was
used to estimate weight changes.
The annual chance of obese patients achieving five
per cent weight loss was 1 in 12 for men and 1 in 10
for women. For those people who achieved five per
cent weight loss, 53 per cent regained this weight
within two years and 78 percent had regained the
weight within five years.
Overall, only 1,283 men and 2,245 women with a BMI
of 30-35 reached their normal body weight,
equivalent to an annual probability of 1 in 210 for
men and 1 in 124 for women; for those with a BMI
above 40, the odds increased to 1 in 1,290 for men
and 1 in 677 for women with severe obesity.
Weight cycling, with both increases and decreases in
body weight, was also observed in more than a third
of patients. The study concludes that current
obesity treatments are failing to achieve sustained
weight loss for the majority of obese patients.
Dr Alison Fildes, first author from the Division of
Health and Social Care Research at King’s College
London (and now based at UCL), said: ‘Losing 5 to 10
per cent of your body weight has been shown to have
meaningful health benefits and is often recommended
as a weight loss target. These findings highlight
how difficult it is for people with obesity to
achieve and maintain even small amounts of weight
loss.’
‘The main treatment options offered to obese
patients in the UK are weight management programmes
accessed via their GP. This evidence suggests the
current system is not working for the vast majority
of obese patients.’
‘Once an adult becomes obese, it is very unlikely
that they will return to a healthy body weight. New
approaches are urgently needed to deal with this
issue. Obesity treatments should focus on preventing
overweight and obese patients gaining further
weight, while also helping those that do lose weight
to keep it off. More importantly, priority needs to
be placed on preventing weight gain in the first
place.’
Professor Martin Gulliford, senior author from the
Division of Health and Social Care Research at
King’s College London, said: ‘Current strategies to
tackle obesity, which mainly focus on cutting
calories and boosting physical activity, are failing
to help the majority of obese patients to shed
weight and maintain that weight loss. The greatest
opportunity for stemming the current obesity
epidemic is in wider-reaching public health policies
to prevent obesity in the population.’
For more information
American Journal of Public Health
Probability of an Obese Person Attaining Normal Body
Weight: Cohort Study Using Electronic Health Records
Link...
King's College London
Link...
MDN |