commercial diets lack proof of their long-term success

Under pressure from dietary experts and federal regulators, the commercial diet program is rushing to collect data about their long-standing
The word \"success\", data that does not exist now.
They also put more emphasis on programs designed to help customers keep losing weight ---
Additional fees are charged frequently-
Hopefully when the data is collected they will help prove that their program is long termterm worth.
Just in case, they are changing their emphasis on developing healthy eating habits and the value of losing weight.
\"If diet companies publish good research on their success rate, consumers can make informed choices before entering the program,\" said Dr . \"Thomas A.
Wadden, a weight-
Loss specialist at Syracuse University
But he added, \"they know that it is the responsibility to carry out these studies, as they may show that patients gain significantly weight after one year of treatment.
People would say, why do I sign up for a program where most people get their weight back to third in a year.
\"Although millions of people pay billions of dollars a year to fulfill their promise for the future, there is little scientific support for the claim that a commercial diet can provide a lot of foodscale, long-
Long-term weight loss.
Sometimes there is little scientific basis for their project design.
Many sell prepackaged food as a magic potion to lose weight, but remain dissatisfied with developing diet and exercise patterns, which experts say is critical to losing weight.
\"What we have in the weight loss industry is a food sales culture, not a nursing culture,\" Dr . \"
Robert Hoerr, director of medical affairs, Nutrition Department, Minneapolis oz pharmaceutical company.
\"I don\'t think most of these projects have in-house expertise to measure if they really work.
\"Earlier this year, when the National Institutes of Health held a meeting to review the latest developments in diet, the institute\'s panel of experts concluded that, it \"often does not have data to answer questions about voluntary methods of weight loss and control. \"Of the half-
In an informal survey, more than a dozen weight loss companies reached an agreement with only two, Sandoz\'s Optifast Program and Jenny Craig Inc.
Information is provided based on published scientific research on drop-out rates or how many people maintain their weight after a year.
Limited data suggest that many people who complete a commercial diet will regain one
They lost three pounds a year later.
Three years or three years, if not all, the most in three to five years.
Many people will not even finish the project. In 1991, 7.
Number of commercial weight registrations 9 million
Loss-making programs, which generate more than $2 billion in revenue for these programs, according to John LaRosa, research director at Marketdata Studios, a Valley Stream market research firm in the United StatesI.
Specializing in the food industry.
This does not include people who use a liquid diet like Optifast or Medifast that must be medically supervised, he said.
The Federal Trade Commission has signed an agreement with the three major diet companies called an \"out-of-court settlement\" by an official to change their advertising claims and is expected to work with others in the coming months
The company did not acknowledge guilt when signing these agreements, but said they would only claim that they had data support.
The committee decided to take action on weight
Loss-making companies because they have been doing it for a long time
\"Long term weight loss claims and evidence do not exist,\" said Matthew Dinard, senior counsel for the Commission . \".
The demand for hard numbers is unfair to many in the industry. Dr.
Barbara Moore, weight observer, who has no statistics on dropping out of school or dropping out of school for a long time
Term Maintenance said: \"In terms of weight, I have a problem with their total fixation of weight.
Losing weight is not the only measure of success.
People participate in the project more healthily and actively, so they live better.
Maybe they didn\'t lose all their weight, but they started to control their diet and exercise.
How do you measure it?
\"Many researchers now believe that any\" successful \"diet can only produce a moderate weight loss effect at best (
5 to 10% of weight)
A year later, struggle must be maintained.
But doctors stress that even a slight weight loss can be of great benefit to health.
\"In the past, we have asked the impossible, and we don\'t need to ask . \"
George Blackburn, a nutrition expert at New England convent Hospital in Boston.
\"5% of weight loss can reduce your risk of high blood pressure by 50%.
\"There is no data for a commercial diet to support their claim, but there is also no data for people who say that diet doesn\'t work.
Diet does work, but they lose 5-10% in a year.
It\'s worth a shout. \"Dr.
\"Consumers have to realize that you will never lose weight once and for all,\" Wadden said.
It\'s expected when they see people in a program recovering their weight.
How much is the problem?
Do they keep some?
\"So far, the researchers say that the only thing in any type of diet plan that has good scientific data is --and two-
The result of this year is a very low calorie liquid diet.
While Sandoz Nutrition is one of the three companies whose advertising practices have been criticized by the Commission, diet experts have praised its Optifast Program for opening the door to at least external scientific scrutiny.
In a study by the doctor
Wadden appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine and 517 Optifast patients were followed for more than a year.
About 60% people finished six. month weight-loss program.
Among those who have completed the project and come back to participate in a project --year follow-
The average weight of customers dropped by 60%.
The weight of 20% remains the same, and the weight of 11% increases again. Dr.
Sandoz\'s Hoerr said he now has data showing that patients who completed the Optifast Program maintained an average of 10% weight loss after two years.
\"I don\'t know what will happen in two years, but most of the data is pessimistic,\" he said . \".
The statistics certainly did not show amazing success, and the real situation could be worse, because 26% of people were not weighed after a year, and there was no way for researchers to track those who dropped out of school, it\'s probably a lot of weight gain.
No one knows what the comparable number of food is.
Based on business projects.
In this issue of addictive behavior, a researcher working for Jenny Craig
It was found that 82% of the people who completed the project remained within 10% of the weight they considered appropriate for themselves after a year.
But the weight of choice is often more important than the ideal body in medicine.
In addition, patients reported their own weight, which is usually lower than the actual weight, and the success rate is reduced to 64%, according to research.
The researchers did not study how many people withdrew from the program before reaching the weight loss effect they wanted, and only about half of the graduates contacted to become part of the study.
1980s is the peak of weight growth.
Lose the industry when doctors announce that obesity is a health risk and a cosmetic disadvantage.
Many companies rushed to provide \"treatment\" for the new disease \".
\"Five years ago, losing weight looked like a great business opportunity, and many of them had great marketing and spent a lot of money on advertising,\" the doctor said . \"
Steven hemsfield, St. Luke\'s-
Roosevelt Medical Center in New York
The storefront food program is booming, and businesses are being offered by hospitals and individual doctors.
They distribute liquid diet recipes and make money by doing the necessary tests.
But in the past two years, people have realized that the initial weight loss is only a small part of the problem of obesity.
\"Obviously you can\'t make a lot of money without a lot of work;
To do this correctly, doctors need the help of therapists and nutritionists, which takes a lot of time and is not very profitable, \"Dr.
Said haymsfield.
He noted that many doctors and hospitals have since abandoned this area.
In the 1980s, Optifast had already run out of 500 projects from hospitals and doctor offices. Dr.
Since then, the number has dropped to a high of 200,00, Hall said.
\"What happened later,\" Dr.
Heymsfield said, \"many of these diet items are oversold.
Promises cannot be fulfilled and risks are not always disclosed.
This caught up with everyone.
\"The review by the Federal Trade Commission and the National Institutes of Health has yielded some results.
Many companies are \"very cooperative and have changed their advertising \".
\"The committee\'s Denard said.
Agreement between the company and F. T. C.
Statement the company may only issue statements that can be supported by scientific data.
However, many companies do not have data, and it is difficult to force dieter to sign contracts with existing data.
In addition to Optifast, some companies say they are conducting scientific research to assess success rates, but it is unclear whether they can stand scientific scrutiny.
Delphine Carroll, a company spokesman, said Nutri/System is working with scientists from a major university on research.
But she declined to say which university was involved in the study and how the study was conducted.
The study will be submitted to a journal for peer review, she said, and she does not want to jeopardize its chances of being accepted. Slim-
Fast food is also doing scientific research on the results of its diet program.
But sometimes the boundaries between research and promotion are vague.
For example, the company also recently put the pound town, Wis. , on a 12-
The weekly diet, which eventually transformed the entire village and held a party at which host Tommy Lasorda would congratulate each of the \"losers\" on the \"great achievements \".
A public relations consultant named \"hard work\" research.
\"Now scientists are looking closely at the long question --
As a result of the long term, food companies are stepping up their efforts to help successful dieters keep losing weight.
But some maintenance programs are expensive, and sceptics say that dieters may invest a lot of money in bad situations.
For example, in Nutri/System, the maintenance phase is a one-year project that includes weekly and then monthly meetings. During the 12-
During the month, dieters continue to eat through nutrition/system, although less and less each month.
If the dieters still maintain their ideal weight after six months, they will receive a refund for half of the repair fee.
If the weight is still the same after a year, they will receive the remaining fees.
But skeptics say such a plan is simply artificially exaggerated.
Annual weight loss statistics, as these results in an infinite dependence on sometimes expensive diet meetings and pre-packaged food by the company.
Ron Stern, president of Slim
Fast Foods said that the dieters who keep losing weight after the initial diet are usually those who continue to eat weight loss products.
Most business projects are also starting to focus more on consultation and exercise.
Scientists say developing new eating and activity habits is the real key to longevity.
Regular maintenance--
This is the only hope to break the link with the diet machine.
\"They are trying to improve the project, but it has changed a lot . \"Wadden said.
Some people have lectures.
But most people who are seriously overweight need more than just a lecture.
Most people who are seriously overweight know what they have to do. -
They know they should walk more and put the fork in-
But it is difficult to do so.
\"A healthy tomorrow for individuals: What can people do about their weight.