title: Medicare's search for effective obesity treatments: diets are not the answer.
abstract: The prevalence of obesity and its associated health problems have increased sharply in the past 2 decades. New revisions to Medicare policy will allow funding for obesity treatments of proven efficacy. The authors review studies of the long-term outcomes of calorie-restricting diets to assess whether dieting is an effective treatment for obesity. These studies show that one third to two thirds of dieters regain more weight than they lost on their diets, and these studies likely underestimate the extent to which dieting is counterproductive because of several methodological problems, all of which bias the studies toward showing successful weight loss maintenance. In addition, the studies do not provide consistent evidence that dieting results in significant health improvements, regardless of weight change. In sum, there is little support for the notion that diets lead to lasting weight loss or health benefits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA. mann@psych.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Traci
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: A Janet
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Tomiyama
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Westling
authors.forename: Ann-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lew
authors.forename: Barbra
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Samuels
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chatman
mesh_terms: D004035:Diet Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare; D009765:Obesity / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States