Taking on the obesity challenge

American Psychological Association weighs in

As the world tunes in to watch the London Olympic Games, research presented at the recent American Psychological Association 20^th annual convention turns to the health implications of obesity, and the importance of psychology in supporting weight loss.  The keynote address identified obesity as the greatest US national health challenge and urged psychologists to turn their energies to tackling overweight.

The APA is the world’s largest association of psychologists. Presenters Kelly Brownell of the Yale School of Public Health and Rena Wing of Brown University, who approach obesity on – respectively – the public policy and patient level, discussed their work. Brownell has recently focused research on the potentially addictive pathways of food, particularly sugar. Wing leads an ongoing 13-year trial of individuals with type 2 diabetes to assess whether behavioural support and intervention can improve health outcomes by reducing risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack.

Wing’s work on a national study of 3,000 people who were overweight with impaired glucose tolerance, shows promising results; when supported to change behaviour the group lost weight and reduced type 2 diabetes risk by over 50 per cent without medication. The benefits of weight loss of 10 per cent of body weight, which averaged 14lb among participants, continues for 10 years, regardless of whether people regained the weight during this time. This level of weight loss also has a positive impact on sleep, hypertension and mobility.

This research provides dramatic evidence that supporting healthy lifestyle behaviours has a dramatic impact on preventing chronic disease.

Sources: Medical Express, 2 August 2012; American Psychological Association 2012 Online Convention Program, 2 August, 2012; Science Daily, 2 August 2012.

 

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