NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who take part in a commercial weight-loss program may indeed shed some pounds - especially if they substantially cut calories, a new study from Sweden finds.
Worldwide, around 1.5 billion adults are overweight and another half billion are obese. In the U.S., two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese. That's a huge market for commercial weight-loss programs, but few studies have looked at whether they really work.
The popular Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig programs are among the few that have been tested in clinical trials, with promising results: People in the programs lost more weight over two years than people assigned to "usual care" - generally advice from a doctor or dietitian. (See Reuters stories of September 8, 2011 and November 4, 2011).
The newest study followed over 9,000 adults who enrolled themselves in Itrim, a popular chain of weight-loss and exercise centers in Sweden. The company just recently expanded to the U.S., opening a center in San Francisco .
Over a year, program clients lost an average of 11 to 25 pounds, depending on how strict they were willing to get with calories.
On the other hand, up to one-quarter dropped out, according to results published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The Itrim program is different from its better-known competitors, according to Erik Hemmingsson, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm who led the study.
Weight Watchers promotes eating "normal food" and trimming calories, while Jenny Craig typically provides prepackaged lower-calorie meals, then has people gradually go back to regular meals.
People in the Itrim program choose an eating plan, with the help of a "health coach," and take up an exercise regimen. The strictest diet plan involves downing liquid meals of just 500 calories a day for six to 10 weeks, then gradually reintroducing normal food.
If that sounds too daunting, people can combine liquid meals and lower-calorie regular meals for a total of 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day, or stick with normal food but trim calories to 1,500 to 1,800 per day.
Read more:
More evidence commercial weight loss plans can work
