New Published Diet Study Reveals Meal Replacements as Top Strategy for Weight Loss

BOSTON, Aug. 12 PRNewswire

With obesity now the greatest threat to the health of Americans, finding an effective approach to weight loss is more critical than ever. According to a new study in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, portion and calorie-controlled meal replacements used in a structured weight-loss program are successful in facilitating medically significant weight loss.

The study looked at dieters using the meal replacements and the intensive behavioral program developed by HMR((R)) (Health Management Resources). Dieters used one of two weight-loss options: patients with diabetes, hypertension, or other weight-related medical problems used HMR's medically supervised diet and ate only meal replacements. Other dieters consumed a healthy diet, meal replacements along with fruits and vegetables. All dieters attended weekly classes, kept food records, had mid-week phone calls with a health educator, and burned a minimum of 2,000 exercise calories each week.

Patients on the medically supervised diet lost an average of 43.3 pounds in 19 weeks. Patients on the Healthy Solutions diet lost an average of 37.5 pounds in 18 weeks. These data represent two to three times more weight loss, in less time, compared to published results of any other commercial diet program.

According to the study's co-author, Dr. James W. Anderson, Professor Emeritus of Internal Medicine and Clinical Nutrition at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, the gold standard for weight loss in the health community is to achieve a 5 - 10% loss of initial body weight. "This study showed a weight loss between 15.8 % and 16.4% of initial body weight, both well above the gold standard the health community considers successful and the point at which health improvements are seen."

The Centers for Disease Control reports a dramatic increase in obesity in the U.S. over the past 20 years, with 2/3 of Americans now overweight or obese. Furthermore, there are more obese Americans than overweight or normal weight. Some common effects of obesity include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, and cancer. If you are obese, losing just 5% to 10% of your body weight can delay or prevent some of these diseases.

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