How Intensive Weight Loss Programs May Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease and Diabetes
If you lose some weight, it can help reduce your risk of getting diseases like heart disease and diabetes for at least five years – even if you put a bit of it back on. That’s what studies about weight loss programs show.
People who participated in an intensive behavior-based weight loss program had better medical readings like lower blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and diabetes markers compared to those who didn’t join such a program or just joined a lighter version of it.
A recent study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes revealed that when you make lifestyle changes as part of an intensive program for weight loss, you can keep disease risks like Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular issues away even if you gain back some weight. These positive results will last up to five years!
A recent report revealed that in 2020, excess weight caused 2.4 million deaths worldwide. Being overweight or obese can raise your risk of having high cholesterol and high blood pressure, as well as diabetes type 2 which is linked to having problems with insulin resistance.
Behavioral weight loss programs are designed to help people by teaching them healthier lifestyle choices such as eating healthier and doing more exercise. Although it’s normal for some people to put the weight back on, studies suggest that this may increase your risk of heart problems. However, we need further research looking at trials and longer-term follow-up studies.
Prof. Susan A. Jebb from the University of Oxford said that many doctors and patients think that it’s not worth it to try to lose weight because they believe that people tend to gain back any lost weight eventually. But losing weight is actually a great way for adults with overweight or obesity issues to reduce their chances of getting Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
This research looked at different international studies from 2018 to try and understand if there’s a difference between the risk for getting heart disease or Type 2 Diabetes between people who do a hard workout program to lose weight and people who don’t. The studies that were part of this analysis included diets, workouts, partially eating pre-made foods, not eating for some time and even giving money away as incentives to help a person lose weight. There was also variety among where all these different methods were used (like in person or using an app) and how they were given (text messages or through phone calls).
Researchers did a huge study of over 50,000 people who wanted to lose weight. On average, they lost between 5-10 pounds and were able to keep most of it off for two years. The participants were around 51 years old and obese with an average body mass index of 33.
Compared to people in a regular diet plan and those not trying to lose weight, those who followed an intensive program for losing weight had fewer risks of heart diseases and diabetes. These lower risk factors remained the same even five years after the program ended.
In general, studies showed that the intensive weight loss program was very effective in reducing the risks which mentioned earlier.
After taking part in an intensive weight loss program, the top number of a blood pressure reading (Systolic Blood Pressure) became lower by 1.5 mm in measurement at one year, and 0.4 mm in measurement at five years after participation. Additionally, the amount of a protein found in red blood cells used to test for diabetes (HbA1c) reduced by 0.26 after taking part in this program regardless of when measured – either one or five years after joining it.
By taking part in an intensive weight loss program, your total cholesterol compared to your good cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) could be lower by 1.5 points after one year and five years. This is important because it could mean better health overall for more people.
Studies show that if you lose weight, you may have a lower chance of getting sick with problems like heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Even if you gain the weight back, you might still have those decreased risks. But this hasn’t been studied for very long yet, so we don’t know if those benefits will stay the same over time.
Most studies look at if new treatments are helpful and focus on changes in weight, but not how it affects illnesses later. Usually, the amount of people that get cardiovascular conditions is too small for one study to tell how much it prevents those diseases, like Type 2 diabetes or heart attacks. So, usually studies need to last a long time before we can really understand if the treatment works.
The research has shown that losing weight through dieting and exercising can help to reduce the risk of getting some diseases related to your heart.
To stay healthy, the American Heart Association suggests you follow 8 habits. This includes eating good food, exercising and not smoking, getting enough sleep, keeping a healthy weight and controlling your cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure levels.
The research was limited, only looking at studies published up to 2019 and written in English. It’s possible that some interesting studies written in other languages were missed.
A special report says that there is still much to learn about weight loss treatments, the lasting effects of these treatments and the risk of regaining any weight lost. Programs designed for those trying to manage their weight are often hard to come by because they take up a lot of resources. On top of that, many newer medicines to help people lose weight can be really expensive. This was written by Vishal N Rao and Neha J Pagidipati from Duke University’s Division Of Cardiology in Durham, North Carolina.
Research has shown that even though weight loss can have a positive effect on your health, it’s still uncertain whether or not the short-term results of losing and gaining weight is better than never losing at all in the long run.
A group of researchers recently published a study that looked at the long-term effects that regaining weight can have on people’s cardiovascular health. They studied how joining a weight management program and then gaining some weight back afterwards affects cardiometabolic disease (heart and metabolism problems) risk over time. The findings of the study were published in an article called “Long-Term Effect of Weight Regain Following Behavioral Weight Management Programs on Cardiometabolic Disease Incidence and Risk: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” which was published on March 28, 2023 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
The British Heart Foundation and the National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre supported a study. The study looked into 3 different things:
1. What has been discovered about diabetic macular edema so far, as well as its risk factors;
2. Why some people miss taking their medicine when they’re supposed to take it, and this especially amongst adults in Africa;
3. How diabetes and unhealthy lipids (aka fatty molecules) are linked with each other.
1. In Beijing Desheng Community, doctors are using a special system to screen for diabetic retinopathy.
2. Researchers around the world are studying how “apelin/APJ” could help treat diseases of the retina veins
3. In Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, people with a severe type of worm infection called schistosomiasis mansoni are getting treated by taking multiple medicines
4. Also, for those who have blocked their retinal artery, doctors are using many different treatments to fix this issue
5. Last but not least, experts in China have looked at data from people with COVID-19 to figure out which risk factors can lead to having a more serious case of the virus.
Scientists are studying a new way to spot if people have malaria in Palletwa Township, Myanmar. They’re also looking at how people with pulmonary tuberculosis can manage their own condition more effectively.
