Doctor’s Advice Can Help In Weight Loss Much Efficiently – Voice Chronicle

Want to drop those extra pounds? It’s time to consult your doctor as a new study has revealed that physician’s support is the key to successful weight loss.

Johns Hopkins researchers have said that their findings could inform the development of weight loss programs that give primary care physicians a starring role.

In the study, Primary care physician Wendy L. Bennett and her colleagues reviewed information gathered by Johns Hopkins’ Practice-based Opportunities for Weight Reduction trial, a two-year, randomised, controlled study funded by the federal government.

During the trial, some obese patients worked to lose weight with the aid of health coaches while their efforts were supervised by their primary care physicians and they were asked to fill out surveys that asked their relationships with their primary care physician.

Each participant also had one of three cardiovascular disease risk factors: high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.

Researchers reviewed data and surveys from 347 people who participated in thePractice-based Opportunities for Weight Reduction, or POWER, two-year trial to measure the benefits of working with a coach or being guided by a physician while maintaining a weight loss program.

Of the participants, 63 percent were female, about 40 percent were black, and as a group had an average BMI of 36.3 and mean age of 54.8 years old.

Researchers reported that participants who gave their physicians the highest ratings for the helpfulness lost an average of 111 pounds. Those who rated their doctors the lowest lost an average of 5 pounds during the two years.

The researchers said that, based on the results of the study, they would hope to see new ideas for team-based planning of weight loss and programs to reimburse patients for physician interventions that help them treat their obesity.