University of Otago Edgar National Centre for Diabetes and Obesity Research

HEAT Study - Healthy Eating And Training

Strategies must be developed if we are going to be able to address the global problem of obesity.   Many short term options have been shown to be successful for achieving weight loss in overweight/obese individuals.  Few long term options have been successful.  We urgently need information regarding the most cost effective programme(s) for overweight/obese individuals to maintain their weight loss.  This study involved recruiting 200 women and the comparison of two approaches for providing support for maintenance of weight loss, and two dietary approaches for maintaining weight loss. The support programmes involve different types of support and differ vastly in cost.  We aimed to determine if a lower cost, but still intensively frequent type of support is as successful as the expensive expert dependent Finnish approach (used in the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study - Diabetes. 2003;52:2532-8) .  The dietary programmes included one diet based on the high carbohydrate (CHO) diet, but specifically promoting low glycaemic index carbohydrates versus an alternative approach based on a moderate CHO, high monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) diet promoting low glycaemic load. The results have been presented at several international conferences and are being prepared for publication in international journals.

Clinical Trials Information:

This study is registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov with the identifier:
NCT00128336

Funding:

Health Research Council of New Zealand
Department of Human Nutrition, University of Otago

Publications:

Dale KS, McAuley KA, Taylor RW, Williams SM, Farmer VL, Hansen P, Vorgers SM, Chisholm AW, Mann JI. Determining optimal approaches for weight maintenance: a randomized controlled trial. CMAJ. 2009; 180: E39-E46.
View abstract

Dale KS, Mann JI, McAuley KA, Williams SM, Farmer VL. Sustainability of lifestyle changes following an intensive lifestyle intervention in insulin resistant adults: Follow-up at 2-years. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2009; 18 (1): 114-20.
View abstract

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