Obesity

TLC Programs: FirstLine Therapy®: Chronic Illness: Obesity

Obesity is Gaining Ground

We’re a fat nation—and getting fatter. In fact, the average American adult today weighs 25 pounds more than the average American adult of 40 years ago.

In terms of body mass index (BMI), obesity—a BMI of 30 or more—is so pervasive that it affects our health and quality of life as much as poverty and more than smoking or drinking.¹

Just how pervasive are we talking about? Consider these statistics:

The number of overweight or obese adults has increased steadily over the last 30 years. Today, 66% of U.S. adults are overweight or obese (vs. 47% in 1976-1980).²
Young people are getting fatter, too. Over 18% percent of children aged 6 to 11 and 17% of adolescents aged 12-19 are overweight—nearly twice the number of 2 decades ago.³
Obese people have a 50 to 100 percent increased risk of death due mainly to cardiovascular disease.⁴
Obesity claims 300,000 U.S. lives per year.⁵
Americans spend more than $75 billion a year in medical costs directly related to obesity.⁶

Despite spending over $30 billion a year trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain, our waistlines keep expanding.⁷ Why is this so?

Weight Loss and Body Composition

The problem with most popular weight loss programs is that they focus on weight loss alone, resulting in an unending merry-go-round of fad diets. Little or no emphasis is placed on healthy body composition (fat-to-lean muscle ratio), even though healthy body composition is widely recognized as being more crucial to long-term success than just dropping pounds.

Unhealthy body composition refers to carrying too much fat in comparison to lean (i.e., muscle) tissue. Diet programs that focus only on weight loss can help people look thinner, but they can also lead to muscle loss and retention of excess fat. So even if a person does lose weight, an unhealthy body composition will still leave the person at risk for a wide range of serious health concerns, such as:

Diabetes
Heart disease
High blood pressure
Stroke
Osteoarthritis

Steering Patients Toward Healthier Body Composition

A therapeutic lifestyle change (TLC) program that focuses on losing excess fat while retaining lean muscle will produce significantly better overall health, and may help prevent the onset of many common chronic diseases. Even small adjustments can lead to big improvements. For instance, patients can:

Eat a healthier diet. Research suggests that a diet rich in whole grains, legumes, and vegetables (especially the dark-green leafy variety) is not only a good source of essential nutrients and fiber, but it also has a beneficial effect on blood lipids and blood pressure.
Start a daily exercise regimen. Exercise will help patients build muscle and increase the body’s metabolic rate, enabling them to more effectively burn calories. Even low to moderate intensity activities such as walking the dog, stair climbing, and gardening can provide significant benefits.
Take quality supplements. Supplementing a healthier diet with certain nutrients—at doses that are difficult to obtain from diet alone—may be beneficial in supporting overall health.
Learn to manage stress. Change of any kind, even if beneficial, is stressful. Eating in response to stress (i.e., “emotional” eating), can undo all of a patient’s good dietary and fitness efforts. For these and other reasons, stress management techniques such as breathing exercises, meditation, massage, and yoga are invaluable for good health.

The Evidence Is In: TLC Helps Control Obesity

A wealth of clinical evidence has emerged that suggests TLC programs such as FirstLine Therapy (FLT) can help to reduce obesity and the chronic health conditions that frequently accompany it.

In a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, 522 middle-aged, overweight subjects (172 men and 350 women; mean age, 55 years; mean BMI, 31) with impaired glucose glucosetolerance were randomly assigned to either the lifestyle intervention or the control group.⁸ After just over three years, the results demonstrated the obesity-fighting power of TLC.

The net weight loss by the end of year 2 was 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs) in the intervention (TLC) group, but only 0.8 kg (1.76 lbs) in the control group (p<0.001).
The cumulative incidence of diabetes after 4 years was 11% in the intervention group and 23% in the control group. During the trial, the risk of diabetes decreased by 58% (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Type 2 diabetes can be prevented by changes in the lifestyles—including weight loss—of high-risk subjects.

In a cohort study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were performed to examine the influence of lifestyle factors on risk of developing the metabolic syndrome in elderly men.⁹ Study participants consisted of 3,051 men aged 60-79 years with no diabetes mellitus or diagnosis of coronary heart. The findings strongly supported TLC.

Overweight/obesity and physical inactivity were associated with a significantly higher risk of metabolic syndrome, as were cigarette smoking and a high-carbohydrate diet.
Taking up physical activity and losing weight in the previous 3 years helped to reduce the risk of the metabolic syndrome.

Conclusion: Modification of lifestyle factors, even later in life, has considerable potential for primary prevention of the metabolic syndrome.

FirstLine Therapy®—Better Health Now and for a Lifetime

FirstLine Therapy (FLT) is a TLC program developed to help patients address the underlying causes of disease and lead a healthier, more vibrant life. The basic principles of FLT—healthy eating, regular exercise, nutritional supplementation, and stress management—are the foundation upon which you can build a program tailored to your patients’ specific needs; and build up your practice at the same time.

Help Your Patients Get Healthy and Lean Today!

Now is the time to help your patients fight obesity and related health conditions! Learn more about FirstLine Therapy and the FirstLine Therapy Certification Program click here.

REFERENCES

Sturm R, Wells KB. Does obesity contribute as much to morbidity as poverty or smoking? Public Health 2001 May;115(3):229-235.
Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Adults: United States, 2003-2004, National Centers for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/overweight_adult_03.htm. Accessed February 19, 2008.
Prevalence of Overweight Among Children and Adolescents: United States, 2003-2004. National Centers for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/overweight/overwght_child_03.htm. Accessed February 19, 2008.
Statistics Related to Overweight and Obesity, Weight-control Information Network, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics. Accessed December 21, 2007.
Allison DB, Fontaine KR, Manson JE, Stevens J, VanItallie TB. Annual deaths attributable to obesity in the United States. JAMA. 1999;282(16):1530-1538.
Finkelstein EA , Fiebelkorn IC, Wang G. State-level estimates of annual medical expenditures attributable to obesity. Obesity Research. 2004 12:18-24.
Counting Costs and Calories: Introduction and Executive Summary, Window on State Government, Susan Combs, Comptroller of Public Accounts. http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/obesitycost/02intro.html. Accessed February 21, 2008.
Tuomilehto J, Lindstrom J, Eriksson JG, et al. Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by changes in lifestyle among subjects with impaired glucose tolerance. N Engl J Med. 2001;344(18):1343-1350.
Wannamethee SG, Shaper AG, Whincup PH. Modifiable lifestyle factors and the metabolic syndrome in older men: effects of lifestyle changes. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2006;54(12):1909-1014.