Obese individuals can benefit by weight loss

Intentionally losing weight can bring long-term health benefits for individuals with obesity, regardless of the method or strategy they use, according to a study of almost 200,000 people.

Those who lost more than 4.5kg had less weight gain and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes than those who did not lose weight, but lean individuals did not benefit, with weight loss attempts associated with longer-term weight gain and higher risks of type 2 diabetes.

Obesity can lead to higher risks of diseases including type 2 diabetes. Controlling weight can be an effective strategy for preventing and managing obesity and related diseases, though long-term weight change and risk of developing type 2 diabetes are not well studied.

The US based researchers included healthy participants from three prospective cohort studies from 1988-2017. Individuals were aged between 24-78 and predominantly female-11.6% male and 14.2% male in the cohorts.

24 years later, risk of diabetes was reduced for individuals with obesity irrespective of weight loss strategy-ranging from a 21% reduction for exercise to a 13% reduction for diet pills. For overweight individuals, the researchers saw a range of 9% reduction in type 2 diabetes risk for exercise to an increase of 42% risk for those who took pills, and in lean individuals, all weight loss was associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes-ranging from a 9% increase for exercise and a 54% increase for pills or FCP.

The authors concluded that while weight loss can be beneficial for those who are overweight and obese, weight loss strategies do not bring the same gains for lean individuals and weight loss strategies should be used only by those who medically need them.

Reference:

Si K, Hu Y, Wang M, Apovian CM, Chavarro JE, Sun Q (2022) Weight loss strategies, weight change, and type 2 diabetes in US health professionals: A cohort study. PLoS Med 19(9): e1004094. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004094