Category: Weight Loss

What is missing from most weight loss treatments?

The best therapy for weight loss involves treating both obesity and depression, research finds.

People lose more weight when they are treated in an integrated way than if they are treated ‘as normal’ by their physician, the study revealed.

Part of the integrated treatment involves seeing a counsellor and a health coach.

Integrated treatment also reduced depression, which ‘as normal’ treatment did not.

Depression and obesity often occur together.

Over 40 percent of people with depression are obese; obesity is also a risk factor for developing depression.

Usually the two conditions are treated separately, involving multiple appointments that may increase the risk of dropping out altogether.

Professor Jun Ma, the study’s first author, said:

“Treatments exist that are effective at treating obesity and depression separately, but none that address both conditions in concert, which is a critical unmet need because of the high prevalence of obesity and depression together.

We have shown that delivering obesity and depression therapy in one integrated program using dually trained health coaches who work within a care team that includes a primary care physician and a psychiatrist, is effective at reducing weight and improving depressive symptoms.”

The study included 409 people with depression who were also obese.

Half of the people in the study were treated as normal by their physician.

This involved being given information on standard health care services for obesity and depression in the clinic.

The other group, though, were given integrated care that involved nine counselling sessions, a health coach and information on living a healthy lifestyle.

The results showed that people receiving integrated care lost 6 pounds in comparison to no weight loss in the comparison group.

The group receiving integrated care also saw reductions in depression, which the control group did not experience.

Professor Ma said:

“For patients, this approach is an attractive alternative to seeing multiple practitioners each charging for their services as is done traditionally.”

The study was published in the JAMA (Ma et al., 2019).

This technique makes people bored of sweet and salty foods.

Looking at endless images of sweet or salty foods can actually turn people off eating them, psychological research reveals.

While looking at one or two pictures makes people feel hungry, after the first few, it has the opposite effect.

Perhaps one answer to weight loss, then, is to start scrolling through pictures of food on Instagram.

The effect relies on the fact that people generally get tired of anything after they have too much of it.

Psychologists find that nothing beats the first mouthful of food, because we naturally get bored as we eat.

Professor Ryan Elder, who led the study, said:

“In a way, you’re becoming tired of that taste without even eating the food.

It’s sensory boredom — you’ve kind of moved on.

You don’t want that taste experience any more.”

In the study, many hundreds of people were shown pictures of both sweet and salty foods.

The results showed that when people looked at pictures of sweet foods they subsequently rated sweet foods as less tasty.

The same was also true for salty foods.

What is happening is that each time you look at another photograph of some food, you get less pleasure from it.

Like the first taste of chocolate giving you a frisson, the first photograph whets your appetite.

But each subsequent picture — like each subsequent mouthful of chocolate — is less and less exciting, until you get sick of it.

Professor Elder explained:

“You do have to look at a decent number of pictures to get these effects.

It’s not like if you look at something two or three times you’ll get that satiated effect.

That’s good news for food-photo enthusiasts, because, let’s be honest, showing everyone the awesome food you’re eating really is cool.”

The study was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology (Larson et al., 2013).

Eating this food, people lost 7 pounds and maintained their weight loss.

Eating mushrooms can make people feel fuller than meat, research finds.

Feeling fuller from consuming the same number of calories can aid weight loss.

In one study, people who switched some of their meat intake to mushrooms lost 7 pounds and maintained this weight loss over six months.

Another study has shown that mushrooms are linked to a higher intake of crucial vitamins and minerals.

Other plant-based sources of protein work just as well as mushrooms to increase satiety.

For example, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, peanuts and quinoa are all relatively high in protein and contain many essential nutrients.

Professor Joanne Slavin, the study’s first author, said:

“Previous studies on mushrooms suggest that they can be more satiating than meat, but this effect had not been studied with protein-matched amounts until now.

As with previous published research, this study indicates there may be both a nutritional and satiating benefit to either substituting mushrooms for meat in some meals or replacing some of the meat with mushrooms.”

For the study, 32 people were followed for ten days.

Half the time they ate white button mushrooms for breakfast, the other half of the time they had meat.

The mushrooms and meat were balanced so they contained the same amount of calories and protein.

The results showed that people felt significantly less hungry after eating mushrooms than they did after eating meat.

Ms Mary Jo Feeney, a nutritionist for the Mushroom Council, who funded the study, said:

“This new study adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests mushrooms may aid weight management and satiety, and thus contribute to overall wellness.

Consumers are interested in the benefits of protein food choices, so it’s important for them to know that plant-based sources of protein, such as mushrooms, can be satisfying.”

The study was published in the journal Appetite (Hess et al., 2017).

Overall diet quality is more important for weight loss than counting calories.

Eating more fruits, vegetables, nuts, yogurt and whole grains is linked to weight loss, research finds.

To prevent weight gain, people should eat more minimally processed foods in general.

Weight gain is linked to foods like starches in potatoes, refined grains such as white bread, white rice and breakfast cereals that are low in fibre.

To lose weight, reduce habits like watching TV, increase exercise and leave more time for sleep.

Between 6 to 8 hours is best for sleep — longer or shorter is linked to weight gain.

Overall diet quality is more important for weight loss than counting calories or focusing on total fat or energy density, the researchers concluded.

Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, the study’s first author, said:

“An average adult gains about one pound per year.

Because the weight gain is so gradual and occurs over many years, it has been difficult for scientists and for individuals themselves to understand the specific factors that may be responsible.”

The research included 120,877 people who were tracked for 20 years.

The results showed that, on average, people gained just over 3 pounds every four years.

This meant that over 20 years they had put on almost 17 pounds, on average.

However, the study revealed that certain foods were linked to more weight gain.

Potato chips, sugar-sweetened drinks, meat and potatoes were linked to more weight gain.

Those eating more fruit, vegetables, whole grains and nuts, though, put on less weight, despite eating more.

Professor Frank Hu, study co-author, said:

“These findings underscore the importance of making wise food choices in preventing weight gain and obesity.

The idea that there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods is a myth that needs to be debunked.”

Relatively small changes all add up over the years, said Dr Mozaffarian:

“Small dietary and other lifestyle changes can together make a big difference – for bad or good.

This makes it easy to gain weight unintentionally, but also demonstrates the tremendous opportunity for prevention.

A handful of the right lifestyle changes will go a long way.”

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Mozaffarian et al., 2011).

The technique could help overweight people lose weight and keep it off.

Not eating much between meal times can help to increase exercise motivation, new research finds.

Only eating at mealtimes, along with intermittent fasting, both increase the levels of a hormone called ghrelin in the body.

Ghrelin, which increases appetite, boosts the motivation to exercise.

The extra exercise will help overweight people lose weight and keep it off.

It may be possible to use drugs that mimic the effect of ghrelin to increase exercise motivation, the researchers write.

Dr Yuji Tajiri, study co-author, said:

“Our findings suggest that hunger, which promotes ghrelin production, may also be involved in increasing motivation for voluntary exercise, when feeding is limited.

Therefore, maintaining a healthy eating routine, with regular mealtimes or fasting, could also encourage motivation for exercise in overweight people.”

The results come from a study of mice, which compared those given free access to food with those only fed twice a day.

The results showed that both groups ate the same amount of food.

However, the mice that only ate twice a day did more exercise.

Dr Tajiri said:

“These findings and previous reports are based on animal studies; so much more work is needed to confirm that this ghrelin response is also present in people.

If it can be established in clinical practice, it not only opens up new cost-effective diet and exercise strategies but may also indicate a new therapeutic application for ghrelin-mimicking drugs.”

The study was published in the Journal of Endocrinology (Mifune et al., 2019).

People in the study lost 4 lbs without making any conscious effort.

People can lose weight without trying when their partners are trying to lose weight, a recent study finds.

Non-dieting spouses lost 4 lbs despite making no effort to diet, if their partner was on a diet and losing weight.

The psychologists running the study call it ‘the ripple effect’.

One half of a couple automatically influences the other.

Professor Amy Gorin, the study’s first author, said:

“When one person changes their behavior, the people around them change.

Whether the patient works with their healthcare provider, joins a community-based, lifestyle approach like Weight Watchers, or tries to lose weight on their own, their new healthy behaviors can benefit others in their lives.”

The study included 130 couples, one of whom was dieting.

People trying to diet were either given pamphlets and attempted to lose the weight themselves or they were in a structured program, like Weight Watchers.

Six months later, the spouses of those dieting had lost an average of 4 lbs, if their spouse lost weight.

In other words, couples tended to lose weight together.

Similarly, if one member of a couple struggled to lose weight, so did the other.

Almost one-third of people in the study lost 3 percent of their body weight in six months, despite making no conscious effort.

Professor Gorin said:

“How we change our eating and exercise habits can affect others in both positive and negative ways.

On the positive side, spouses might emulate their partner’s behaviors and join them in counting calories, weighing themselves more often, and eating lower-fat foods.”

The ripple effect may also include other members of the household, but this has not yet been tested by research.

The study was published in the journal Obesity (Gorin et al., 2018).

Research reveals if low-fat diets are better for weight loss.

Cutting fat from the diet does not help with weight loss.

In fact, both high- and low-fat diets are equally effective, a review of the research finds.

People do not lose any more weight when they cut out fats from their diet.

The only important factor is whether or not they are able to persist with the diet.

However, there is some evidence that reducing carbohydrates from the diet helps to increase weight loss.

Dr Deirdre Tobias, the study’s first author, said:

“Despite the pervasive dogma that one needs to cut fat from their diet in order to lose weight, the existing scientific evidence does not support low-fat diets over other dietary interventions for long-term weight loss.

In fact, we did not find evidence that is particularly supportive of any specific proportion of calories from fat for meaningful long-term weight loss.

We need to look beyond the ratios of calories from fat, carbs, and protein to a discussion of healthy eating patterns, whole foods, and portion sizes.

Finding new ways to improve diet adherence for the long-term and preventing weight gain in the first place are important strategies for maintaining a healthy weight.”

The researchers reviewed 53 studies including 68,128 people overall.

The studies compared the effects of low- and high-fat diets.

The results showed that average weight loss was the same for both types of diets: about six pounds in a year.

Professor Frank Hu, study co-author, said:

“Current evidence indicates that clinically meaningful weight loss can be achieved with a variety of dietary approaches.

The key is to improve long-term compliance and cardiometabolic health.

Therefore, weight loss diets should be tailored to cultural and food preferences and health conditions of the individual and should also consider long-term health consequences of the diets.”

The study was published in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology (Tobias et al., 2019).

Higher intake of this product can take weight off your body and slash belly fat.

Drinking two or three cups of coffee every day can reduce both total body fat and belly fat in women and older people, a study has found.

Coffee owes its anti-obesity effect to many active compounds such as caffeine, polyphenols, diterpenes, and chlorogenic acids.

Previous studies have found that body temperature will typically increase for at least 3 hours after drinking caffeinated coffee, making the body burn more calories.

The active ingredients, such as caffeine, cause a stimulation in the metabolic rate and so enhances fat burning.

One study suggests that the difference in reactions to caffeine in men and women could be related to steroid hormone circulation.

Sex steroid hormones are important in regulating the amount of fat (adipose tissues) and how these tissues are spread within the body.

This appears to be the case as the new study suggests that daily coffee drinking decreases central obesity or abdominal obesity in women and the elderly.

This greater effect of fat loss in women compared to men is probably related to the regulation of sex steroids.

Age affect the levels of hormones, since women between 20- and 44-years-old who drank coffee two or three times each day had the lowest levels of abdominal obesity (a high concentration of fat in the abdominal area).

They had 3.4 percent less abdominal fat than those who didn’t drink.

Women who were between 45- to 69-years-old had to increase the level of coffee to at least four cups a day to get similar results in losing belly fat.

Overall, women of all ages who consumed two or or three cups of coffee a day had a reduction of body fat of 2.8 percent.

Drinking coffee also had an positive outcome on men but the weight loss effect wasn’t as strong as it was for women.

Men who were between 20- to 40-years-old who consumed coffee two or three times daily had 1.8 percent less trunk fat and a reduction of total body fat of 1.3 percent.

Dr Lee Smith, the study’s Senior author, said:

“Our research suggests that there may be bioactive compounds in coffee other than caffeine that regulate weight and which could potentially be used as anti-obesity compounds.

It could be that coffee, or its effective ingredients, could be integrated into a healthy diet strategy to reduce the burden of chronic conditions related to the obesity epidemic.

It is important to interpret the findings of this study in light of its limitations — the study was at a specific point in time so trends cannot be established.

However, we don’t believe that someone’s weight is likely to influence their coffee consumption.”

The study was published in The Journal of Nutrition (Cao et al., 2020).

This food makes people eat less because they feel fuller.

A handful of nuts each day can reduce weight gain and can increase weight loss, a study finds.

A half ounce of nuts, instead of snacks that are unhealthy, like French Fries or potato chips, can help to reduce off weight gain.

US adults put on 1lb of weight each year, on average, so stopping this slow increase is central to fighting obesity.

Dr Xiaoran Liu, the study’s first author, said:

“People often see nuts as food items high in fat and calories, so they hesitate to consider them as healthy snacks, but they are in fact associated with less weight gain and wellness.”

The study included 51,529 people who were tracked over 20 years or more.

People put on an average of 0.71lbs each year, the results showed.

However, eating more nuts lead to less weight gain and also a lower risk of becoming obese.

A half-serving of nuts each day reduced the risk of becoming obese by 23 percent.

Dr Liu says that prevention is better than cure:

“Once people reach adulthood, they start to gradually gain about one pound a year of weight, which seems small.

But if you consider gaining one pound over 20 years, it accumulates to a lot of weight gain.

Adding one ounce of nuts to your diet in place of less healthy foods — such as red or processed meat, French fries or sugary snacks — may help prevent that slow, gradual weight gain after you enter adulthood and reduce the risk of obesity-related cardiovascular diseases.”

Nuts make people feel fuller because of their high fibre content.

Nut fibres also bind to fats in the gut, which means more calories are excreted.

The study’s authors write:

“In addition to the impact on human health, using environmentally friendly plant-based protein, such as nuts and seeds to replace animal sources of protein may contribute to the promotion of a global sustainable food system.”

The study was published in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health (Liu et al., 2019).