Lifestyle and long-term weight gain

January 01, 0001

Lifestyle and long-term weight gain

Specific dietary and other lifestyle behaviors may affect the success of the straightforward-sounding strategy ‘eat less and exercise more’ for preventing long-term weight gain. These US authors performed prospective investigations involving three separate cohorts that included 120,877 U.S. women and men who were free of chronic diseases and not obese at baseline, with follow-up periods from 1986 to 2006, 1991 to 2003, and 1986 to 2006. The relationships between changes in lifestyle factors and weight change were evaluated at 4-year intervals, with multivariable adjustments made for age, baseline body-mass index for each period, and all lifestyle factors simultaneously. Cohort-specific and sex-specific results were similar and were pooled in a meta-analysis.

They found: "Within each 4-year period, participants gained an average of 3.35 lb. On the basis of increased daily servings of individual dietary components, 4-year weight change was most strongly associated with the intake of potato chips (1.69 lb), potatoes (1.28 lb), sugar-sweetened beverages (1.00 lb), unprocessed red meats (0.95 lb), and processed meats (0.93 lb) and was inversely associated with the intake of vegetables (-0.22 lb), whole grains (-0.37 lb), fruits (-0.49 lb), nuts (-0.57 lb), and yogurt (- .82 lb). Aggregate dietary changes were associated with substantial differences in weight change. Other lifestyle factors were also independently associated with weight change, including physical activity (-1.76 lb across quintiles); alcohol use (0.41 lb per drink per day), smoking (new quitters, 5.17 lb; former smokers, 0.14 lb), sleep (more weight gain with less than 6 or more than 8 hours of sleep), and television watching (0.31 lb per hour per day)."

The authors concluded: "Specific dietary and lifestyle factors are independently associated with long-term weight gain, with a substantial aggregate effect and implications for strategies to prevent obesity."

The large size of this meta-analysis reinforces its credibility.

For the full abstract, click here.

N Engl J Med 364:2392-2404, 23 June 2011 © 2011 to the Massachusetts Medical Society
Changes in Diet and Lifestyle and Long-Term Weight Gain in Women and Men. Dariush Mozaffarian, Tao Hao, Eric B. Rimm, Walter C. Willett, and Frank B. Hu. Correspondence to Dr. Mozaffarian: [email protected]

Category: T. Endocrine/Metabolic/Nutritional. Keywords: weight gain, adults, diet, physical activity, alcohol, smoking, sleep, television, meta-analysis of observational studies, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Linda French, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 1 July 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.