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Article: Weight loss for obese people: what works?
- Article from:
- HealthFacts
- Article date:
- January 1, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Center for Medical Consumers, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Its official -- obesity has been declared a chronic disease to be treated with drugs. This didn't happen overnight; rather, the medical view of obesity has been changed over the last seven years by researchers who now have more drugs in their repertoire and a jaundiced opinion of the efficacy of dieting. A new review of 20 studies in which participants underwent drug and/or behavioral therapy found that some obese people do lose weight and maintain the loss for at least one year (JAMA, 18 December 1996).
Weight loss drugs fell out of favor after it became clear that amphetamines, the majority of those prescribed in the 1950s and 1960s, were used indiscriminately. ...