Physician support ‘can assist obese people in losing weight’

Weight loss programmes are more effective when conducted with the support of physicians, according to a new report.

A review of survey data from more than 300 obese people who participated in a federally-funded US weight loss clinical trial was conducted by Johns Hopkins Medicine, finding that overall weight loss rates were modest.

However, it was also shown that those who rated their primary care doctor's support as particularly helpful lost about twice as many pounds as those who did not.

This could be an important discovery, as many current weight loss programmes are commercially run, with patients often joining these schemes without their physician's knowledge.

Dr Wendy Bennett, assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said: "This trial supports other evidence that providers are very important in their patients' weight loss efforts."

Obesity is a major public health problem in the UK and many other parts of the developed world – one that is expected to intensify in the coming years.