Researchers at Duke have put together a study to find out which diet (including drugs but excluding Weight loss surgery and Medifast, Optifast, and Slimfast) gives you more bang for the buck.
Finkelstein and research assistant Eliza Kruger first conducted a literature review to identify high-quality clinical trials of commercially available diet/lifestyle plans and medications with proven weight loss at one year or more. Weight loss was measured in terms of absolute change in kilograms lost compared to a control group in which patients underwent a low cost/low intensity intervention, or a placebo in the case of the pharmaceutical trials.
The results for diet programs found that Weight Watchers gives you the best weight loss for your money and the drug Qsymia was the best drug. Jenny Craig had the most weight loss but it was the most pricey.
However,
Average weight loss at one year ranged from 2.4 kg (about 5 pounds) for Weight Watchers to 7.4 kg (16 pounds) for Jenny Craig. Those on Orlistat lost 2.8 kg (a little more than 6 pounds) whereas those on Vtrim and Lorcaserin both lost an average of 3.2 kg (about 7 pounds). Weight loss for those on Qsymia averaged 6.7kg (a little less than 15 pounds).
Essentially, weight loss on the diets they measured were about 5-16 pounds. Making Weight Watchers the cheapest at about $75 a pound. I gain and lose five pounds during my period. I don’t need to pay for the privilege.
The authors tried to save face by comparing it to quality adjust life year (essentially saying that the whole five pounds you lost is worth it because now you are “healthier” and that five pounds will save you for the horrible diseases to kill slowy) but really all it proves is you spent a lot of money and didn't lose a lot of weight. The study doesn’t examine weight cycling which I believe to be more dangerous than being fat or does it look at weight loss five years from now. Weight loss diets tend work in the short term. If you measure success in a year with a small amount of weight loss, than I’ve been successful on almost every diet I’ve been on.
The commercial diet industry is rapidly losing money to non-dieters and DIY diets and is desperate to make the money it formerly did. This is why it's focusing at pushing for coverage under the Affordable care Act and workplace wellness. No health insurance in its right mind would cover a program with a 95% failure rate that isn't even shown to be good at weight loss!
Oh and btw
Finkelstein (The author) has been a paid consultant for Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Takeda, Orexigen, and Vivus, Inc
I have noticed, they "discover" this little splut of information every five years or so. Note it does NOT change the issues, policies, lying advertising crapolla one bit. Now, In money spent to benefit ratio, every five years, squared, with an emphasis on "Lifestyle Change" and bad memories from Junior High School, (Or even just walking by one)What do I get on a Monday?...
Posted by: Jennifer | July 28, 2014 at 09:28 PM