Weight-Reducing Diets, Interventions Reduce All-Cause Mortality Risk

Weight-reducing diets that are low in fat and saturated fat with or without exercise interventions may be associated with lower risks for premature all-cause mortality in adults with obesity, according to a recent systematic review and meta-analysis.

For their analysis, the researchers identified and evaluated 30,206 participants enrolled in 54 randomized controlled trials. Studies that met the inclusion criteria had assessed dietary interventions targeting weight loss with or without exercise advice or programs for adults with obesity, and had included at least 1 year of follow-up. Study data were obtained from Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, as well as various authors of unpublished studies.
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Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) criteria was used to assess the quality of evidence. Primary outcomes included all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality.

For the primary outcome, high-quality evidence from 34 trials indicated that weight loss interventions were associated with reduced all-cause mortality, with 6 fewer deaths per 1000 participants. In addition, for other primary outcomes, moderate-quality evidence (8 trials) and very low-quality evidence (8 trials) demonstrated that weight loss interventions had impacted cardiovascular mortality and cancer mortality, respectively.

However, the researchers noted that 24 trials (15,176 participants) with high-quality evidence indicated that participants had developed 1043 new cardiovascular events, while 19 trials (6330 participants) with very low-quality evidence showed that participants had developed 103 new cancer events.

“Weight reducing diets, usually low in fat and saturated fat, with or without exercise advice or [programs], may reduce premature all-cause mortality in adults with obesity,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Ma C, Avenell A, Bolland M, et al. Effects of weight loss interventions for adults who are obese on mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ. 2017;379:j4849. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j4849.