Weight Loss from Diet Pills Doubles When Augmented by Exercise and Diet
November 21, 2005
A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine neither advocates nor eschews diet pills, per se, but found that dieters can achieve twice the weight loss when the diet pills are augmented by diet and exercise. The study backed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the biggest and best yet to demonstrate why obese people should adopt healthy habits, even if they take weight-loss drugs, researchers said. "If you pit this medication against your favorite all-you-can-eat buffet, the…buffet is going to win nine out of 10 times. So it's important you try to modify eating habits," advised Thomas Wadden. The study was led by Thomas Wadden, PhD of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychiatry, who has focused on weight and eating disorders. Medical guidelines have recommended that obese patients also change eating and exercise habits since doctors first began prescribing today's long-term weight-loss medicines in the late 1990s. Still, many patients fail or ignore the advice.