We are so often told about the
many health benefits of losing weight that it may seem odd to think that there
are times when losing weight is only one half of the story. A good example of
that comes from studies into weight loss and cardiovascular events. Although
weight loss is important in this case, there are few long-term studies that
have looked into how weight loss affects the risk of death from cardiovascular
events. Now, a recently published study has come out with some unexpected
findings.
The study, which was published in New England Journal of Medicine, was a controlled trial that
included a total of 5145 patients who were obese and had type II diabetes. They
were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a control group. In the
intervention group, the participants took part in a weight-loss regime that
included decreased caloric intake and increased physical activity. In contrast
to that, the control group took part in various sessions that aimed to provide
counselling and education about diabetes. The individuals were followed up for
an average of 11 years. The key findings indicated that although the
intervention group lost more weight within the first year, this weight loss did
not seem to have an effect on death from cardiovascular causes, stroke, angina
or myocardial infarction.
Although the researchers were initially surprised by the
counter-intuitive findings, they attributed the lack of difference between
groups to the fact that individuals in the control group having been somewhat
more likely to be taking statins. Based on this they recommended that further
research consider the role of statins in preventing death from cardiovascular
causes.
It is difficult to challenge many
of these findings, as the study was highly controlled, with a large sample size
and a long period of follow up. One aspect that is particularly worth
considering is the fact that the participants in the current study were
provided with an on-going intervention throughout the course of the study. This
is in stark contrast to past studies that have tended to provide short-term
interventions. However, there are also some limitations of the study, such as
the fact that the participants were very motivated to lose weight, which may
not be the case for everyone that has diabetes.
We think that the study
highlights an important issue in research, which is the need to consider what
effect medication can have on the outcome of the study. Whilst the findings
appear robust, we would also like to stress that they do not suggest that there
are no health benefits to losing weight. In fact, their findings suggested
several links between weight loss and reductions in depression, urinary
incontinence, sleep apnoea as well as improvements in mobility and quality of
life. We will be keen to see how the current findings affect research and
clinical practice.
You can read more about this study by following this hyperlink.