Moderate Weight Loss Decreases CVD Risk in Obese Adults

Even a moderate 5% weight loss in people with obesity has considerable health benefits by simultaneously improving metabolic function in multiple organ systems and decreasing other risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.

These beneficial effects included decreased total body fat, intra-abdominal fat, and liver fat; decreased systolic blood pressure; decreased plasma triglyceride concentration; and increased insulin sensitivity in liver, muscle, and fat tissues, the researchers found.
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In this randomized controlled trial, they evaluated the effects of 5.1% ± 0.9% (n=19), 10.8% ± 1.3% (n=9), and 16.4% ± 2.1% (n=9) weight loss and weight maintenance (n=14) on metabolic outcomes.

“We were impressed by the profound simultaneous therapeutic effects of a small amount (5%) of weight loss on multiple organ systems,” said study author Samuel Klein, MD, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “However, continued weight loss had different effects in different organs and caused much greater additional metabolic benefits in skeletal muscle than liver or adipose tissue. In addition, our data demonstrate that adipose tissue is extraordinarily sensitive to negative energy balance; progressive weight loss caused stepwise changes in adipose tissue biological pathways involved in lipid metabolism, tissue remodeling (structural architecture), and oxidative stress.”

The study findings underscore the important health benefits of a small amount of weight loss on multiple organ systems, and these results demonstrate people get a large “bang for your buck” with a 5% weight loss, he said.

“A 5% weight loss is much easier to achieve and maintain than a 10% weight loss,” Klein said. “Accordingly, we should reconsider changing current obesity practice guidelines to stress a target goal of 5% weight loss, rather than 5%-10% weight loss, which increases the perception of failure when patients do not achieve weight losses that are greater than 5%.”

He said the findings provide a platform for designing future studies and suggest it will be useful to evaluate crosstalk between adipose tissue biology and other organ systems to understand why even moderate diet-induced weight loss causes such profound health benefits in so many organ systems.

-Mike Bederka

Reference:

Magkos F, Fraterrigo G, Yoshino J, et al. Effects of moderate and subsequent progressive weight loss on metabolic function and adipose tissue biology in humans with obesity. Cell Metab. Published online February 22, 2016. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2016.02.005.