New University of Otago research has highlighted the value of an inexpensive nurse-support programme in helping people maintain weight loss.
Regaining weight was a common outcome for overweight and obese people after short-term weight loss had been achieved through either conventional or alternative weight-reduction methods, the researchers noted.
Their research has been published in the latest Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The researchers showed women who were sufficiently motivated to join a two-year study could "maintain their weight and, in many instances, further reduce their weight, waist circumference and body fat mass" through a simple, inexpensive nurse-support programme.
The results were similar to those of a more costly intensive-support programme which included supervision by dietitians and exercise specialists, and which would prove unaffordable for many countries to implement.
The researchers recruited 200 women, aged 25-75, from a group of Dunedin volunteers.
All those selected for the randomised controlled trial had intentionally lost at least 5% of their initial body weight in the previous six months.
All participants received nutritional counselling and materials.
Then they were provided with five- to 10-minute weigh-in visits with a nurse every two weeks for two years.
One of the researchers, Prof Jim Mann, who is director of the Edgar National Centre for Diabetes Research at the university, said that regular face-to-face contact with a supportive health professional was "a key success factor" in maintaining weight loss.
