The Results of Treatment for Obesity

TLDR

Weight‑reduction programs are widely assumed to be effective and harmless, yet most obesity studies provide vague outcome data that obscure individual patient results. This study reviews the literature on obesity treatment outcomes over the past 30 years. The authors first review published results and then report outcomes from routine treatment of 100 consecutive obese patients at the New York Hospital Nutrition Clinic. The review and the clinic data demonstrate that weight‑reduction programs are often ineffective and can be harmful.

Abstract

The current widespread concern with weight reduction rests on at least two assumptions: first, that weight-reduction programs are effective; second, that they are harmless. Recent studies indicate that such programs may be far from harmless.^1,2This report documents their ineffectiveness. The results of treatment, as reported in the medical literature of the past 30 years, are first reviewed. The results of routine treatment of 100 consecutive obese persons in the Nutrition Clinic of the New York Hospital are then reported. <h3>Review of the Literature</h3> Hundreds of papers on treatment for obesity have been published in the past 30 years. Most, however, do not give figures on the outcome of treatment, and of those that do, most report them in such a way as to obscure the outcome of treatment of individual patients. Some authors, for example, report the total number of patients and the pounds lost without making clear