HHS HealthBeat (December 27, 2010)

People can lose weight

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

People – even very heavy people – can lose weight. At the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, researchers saw it in a 12-month study completed by about 100 severely obese people. All ate at least some calorie-counted packaged meals, and took part in walking programs. They also got small financial incentives to meet their goals, and counseling on the program.

Researcher Bret Goodpaster says they lost about 10 percent of their weight – around 22 to 27 pounds. And he says they had other benefits:

``These severely obese people have meaningful changes in their blood pressure, their insulin resistance, and they lose belly fat in addition to their overall weight loss.’’ (9 seconds)

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011