Environmental News Network - New, Remote Weight-Loss Method Helped Slash Pounds

Details: By Northwestern University; 14.Jul

Losing weight during the COVID-19 pandemic has increasing urgency because obesity increases the risk of severe disease and death.

Julie Swatson

Losing weight during the COVID-19 pandemic has increasing urgency because obesity increases the risk of severe disease and death. Two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A new Northwestern Medicine remote weight-loss program, called Opt-IN, provides maximum weight loss for the lowest cost and with much less hassle than the gold-standard National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), the most successful behavioral non-drug treatment currently available. According to a new study, the Opt-IN program helped participants in a clinical trial lose 11 to 13 pounds, which is equivalent to the DPP’s success rate.

The study findings will be published July 14 in the journal Obesity, the primary obesity publication.

“This matches the gold standard, so it’s as good as it gets,” said senior study author Bonnie Spring, director of the Institute for Public Health and Medicine’s Center for Behavior and Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “What’s novel is how participants get there."

Magazine menu

New, Remote Weight-Loss Method Helped Slash Pounds