I just came across the April 2007 issue of American Psychologist (the official journal of the American Psychological Association), and noticed a landmark article that I completely missed last year. Since U.S. Medicare finally decided to start funding obesity reduction programs as of 2004, the psychologists did a review of the literature and a meta-analysis of weight loss programs (specifically the outcomes of diets) in order to gauge whether or not these deserved Medicare funding. The results are extremely depressing but in line with current thinking going back to the NIH’s Clinical Guidelines on Obesity. The article is pretty technical, but the discussion at the end is quite straightforward. Here’s some quotes:

“It is clear that dieting does not lead to sustained weight loss in the majority of individuals, and additional studies of the effects of dieting on weight are not needed”.

“Because the majority of individuals who engage in diets tend to regain most of their lost weight, no diet can be recommended without considering the potential harms of weight cycling”.

“Finally…exercise may very well be the potent factor leading to sustained weight loss…A comprehensive review of the effects of exercise on health stated that in addition to its effects on weight, exercise also has been linked to positive health outcomes, including decreased mortality, decreased cardiovascular disease, decreased Type 2 diabetes, decreased hypertension, and increased mental health”.

And the killer statement:

“It appears that dieters who manage to sustain a weight loss are the rare exception, rather than the rule. Dieters who gain back more weight than they lost may very well be the norm, rather than an unlucky minority”.

Read’em and weep! Full article below:

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