Originally published December 7 2005
Study shows weight loss pills are less effective without lifestyle changes
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The New England Journal of Medicine has published a study by University of Pennsylvania psychologist Thomas Wadden, which demonstrates that diet pills must be accompanied by improved exercise and eating habits to bring about weight loss.
The study backed by the National Institutes of Health is the biggest and best yet to demonstrate why obese people should adopt healthy habits, even if they take weight-loss drugs, researchers said.
"If you pit this medication against your favorite all-you-can-eat buffet, the ...
buffet is going to win nine out of 10 times.
So it's important you try to modify eating habits," advised University of Pennsylvania psychologist Thomas Wadden, who led the study published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Medical guidelines have recommended that obese patients also change eating and exercise habits since doctors first began prescribing today's long-term weight-loss medicines in the late 1990s.
Yet in the one-year study, the most successful patients took the weight-loss drug Meridia along with 30 sessions of group counseling that promoted a 1,500-calorie daily diet and half-hour walks on most days.
Obese people who took pills alone typically lost 11 pounds in the study.
When they added the full program promoting lifestyle changes, they lost 27 pounds --- more than twice as much.
A third group took the drug with brief doctor's counseling, and a fourth underwent only group counseling.
Dr. Samuel Klein, an obesity expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said the study nonetheless establishes the importance of coupling dieting and exercise with drug therapy in obese patients.
While acknowledging that lifestyle changes are difficult, specialists widely prefer them for patients who can shed pounds that way.
The side effects of Abbott Laboratories' Meridia, known chemically as sibutramine, include higher heart rate and blood pressure in some patients.
Dr. Susan Yanovski, at the National Institutes of Health, warned in an accompanying editorial that obesity medicines should undergo especially careful scrutiny for safety, since they are often misused by patients who are not obese.
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