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 Fewer than one in 10 websites gave enough information to suggest the
programs they promoted followed widely accepted medical guidelines
for weight loss by including things like regular in-person meetings,
daily food and activity tracking, calorie reduction and increased
exercise, the study found.
Some options looked better once researchers picked up the phone to
get more information. Among the subset of programs that agreed to
phone interviews, researchers rated 19 percent as high quality based
on their meeting guidelines for weight loss, up from just 6 percent
when the businesses were evaluated only based on their websites.
“Weight-loss programs that follow the expert guidelines exist,
however, they are few and far between,” said senior study author Dr.
Kimberly Gudzune of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in
Baltimore.
“To identify these programs, patients will need to be proactive and
call to verify that the components offered meet the recommendations
before signing up,” Gudzune added by email.
To see how well weight loss programs lived up to standards set by
medical groups such as the American Heart Association, American
College of Cardiology and The Obesity Society, Gudzune and
colleagues evaluated 200 programs within a 10-mile radius of 17
primary care clinics in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
They also randomly selected 80 of these programs for a telephone
interview, and just 52 (65 percent) agreed to participate.
Of all the programs examined based on their website information and
phone interviews, researchers found that physicians supervised some
programs, while others were affiliates of national commercial
weight-loss programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. Some
programs were affiliated with a bariatric surgery program and others
operated independently.
Overall, only 17 percent of these options met minimum guidelines for
frequency of in-person meetings or clinician appointments – 14
sessions within six months – researchers reported in the journal
Obesity.
Most of the programs specified dietary changes but didn’t elaborate
on what type of eating habits participants would be encouraged to
adopt.
Just over half of the programs encouraged participants to keep daily
logs of food and exercise, recommended because studies have linked
this habit to more successful weight loss.
For exercise, just 3 percent of the programs included the minimum
recommended goal of 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous
intensity physical activity. Many more – 57 percent – described
exercise as part of their program.
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In addition, 34 percent of the programs endorsed the use of
weight-loss supplements, which often lack scientific proof of safety
or effectiveness. By contrast, only 15 percent of the programs
reported prescribing diet drugs approved for use by U.S. drug
regulators.
Because of the limited geographic reach of the study, it’s hard to
say how much the results might reflect what consumers would
encounter across the U.S., particularly in rural communities, the
authors note. The analysis was limited to programs with in-person
components, so the findings also don’t apply to alternatives
delivered only via the Internet or by phone.
Even so, the findings suggest that consumers should do their
homework before shelling out for a local weight-loss program, the
authors conclude. In addition, U.S. regulators should encourage
companies to provide more complete and accurate details online to
help consumers comparison shop and avoid places that don’t follow
medical recommendations for weight loss, the authors argue.
Even before paying for weight loss services, consumers can do a lot
on their own for free, noted Dr. Anne McTiernan, a researcher at
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle who wasn’t
involved in the study.
Patients can start by recording everything they eat and drink, using
pen and paper or one of many free online tracking tools, McTiernan
said by email. This should help people identify “low-hanging fruit,”
the high-calorie items that aren’t filling or nutritious like sugary
sodas and juices, alcohol and coffee loaded with too much cream and
sweetener.
As for exercise, walking is a great start that requires no gym
membership or expensive equipment.
“You don’t need to spend a lot of money to lose weight,” McTiernan
said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1mswkuh Obesity, online February 10, 2016.
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