Study finds Weight Watchers works

anibal bahena wrote:

Study finds Weight Watchers works
1/4/2005 1:36 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff

My goodness, what a weird interpretation of the study. The one I read
said that the various treatment plans did not have studies showing
efficacies. The treatment plans said they weren't conducting studies
and therefore had none, and it wasn't in their business model to turn
away people who came to them for treatment and put them in double-blind
studies instead.

Then they talked about how weight watchers people over a very brief
amount of time lost on average 5 pounds in the only study they liked
according to their criteria.

Knowing what I know about weight loss, I thought the "average" weight
loss was a particularly bad metric. Some people will lose 100 pounds
and keep it off, some people will lose nothing that time and be ready to
work the program the following year. It has no reflection on whether
the program works, just whether the people were ready to do it when they
walked through the door.

It'd make just as much sense to study whose ads attract the most
desperate people the best.

Stupid.

Dally

Patricia Heil wrote:

"anibal bahena" wrote in message
...

Study finds Weight Watchers works
1/4/2005 1:36 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff


Researchers found that a lot of popular weight loss programs can't prove
their claims when it comes to shedding pounds and keeping the weight from
coming back.

A new study of 10 popular diet programs finds only one has strong
scientific evidence to back weight loss claims -- Weight Watchers.

Researchers said the lack of scientific evidence doesn't mean the programs
don't work, just that they can't prove their success or safety.

The review appearing in the Annals of Internal Medicine looked at the
commercial programs Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and LA Weight Loss.
Researchers also examined three medically supervised programs -- Health
Management Resources, Optifast and Medifast. And the study looked at one
Internet program -- EDiets.com -- and two self-help programs, Take Off
Pounds Sensibly and Overeaters Anonymous.

Study co-author Thomas Wadden said all the programs "have helped some
individuals" but it would be "very useful" to have scientific data about
safety and effectiveness among a large group of people.




This is consistent with an FTC study many years ago which found that Weight
Watchers works better than exactly the same named programs.

You are under the impression that the FTC conducted scientific research
into the treatment of obesity in order to quantify claims of obesity
treatment centers?

Care to cite that?

Dally