Effective weight loss possible with doctor support, study says

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Weight management is one of the biggest struggles an individual may encounter. Because of this, people often tend to use fad diets or extreme workout, or even resort to surgery just to achieve their desirable body weight. But a new study has noted that one need not take the challenge of losing weight alone because it is most effective to have a physician as guide to one's weight management journey.

State Column writes that according to Dr. Wendy Bennet, lead author and assistant professor at John Hopkins University where the study has been conducted, their research trial supports other studies done that highlight the importance of having physicians manage and look into future weight loss programs to assist patients in losing weight.

This study sheds light to the advantages of team-based program planning for weight management, which led scientists to believe that insurers may join in the support by providing plans that pay providers to allow the use of weight loss treatments. Having someone to guide an individual's weight loss journey is not only encouraging but may also provide the much-needed emotional boost patients lack.

In the study, the team has observed 300 obese patients who has help from health coaches and who are also being monitored by their primary care physicians (PCP) for weight management, The Times Gazette reports. After the trial period, patients have been asked to answer a survey that includes questions on how the presence of a physician helped in the process, and if they have respected or followed their physician's advices.

Besides a modest weight loss, patients who have answered that they are following their physician's advices has doubled the number of pounds they have lost as compared to those who did not find their physicians helpful. Furthermore, patients have rated their physicians higher for their help in achieving an additional six-pound weight loss as compared to patients who rated their physicians lower.

Pierce Pioneer notes that the study is significant in reducing the number of obese Americans in the world, which turns out to be more than a third to a half of all the adults in the country, according to National Institutes of Health. However, even with this growing problem, Medicare and other private health insurance do not feel the need to reimburse physicians for assisting people in weight loss, a problem the researchers wish to solve by this study.

The study has been published in the journal Patient Education and Counseling last Aug. 21.