Telephone contact with a dietician may be effective in weight loss programmes

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine compared five methods of delivering a lifestyle modification programme to obese patients who were being treated with sibutramine at 12 independent research clinics that were experienced in running trials on obesity. Sibutramine is a drug used in the treatment of obesity.

During the study, all participants were treated with sibutramine, 10 mg/day; a lifestyle manual; and access to a weight-loss Web site. The five interventions were high-frequency face-to-face lifestyle modification counselling, low-frequency face-to-face counselling, high-frequency telephone counselling, , high-frequency email counseling, or no dietitian contact.

The groups who had high-frequency face-to-face contact with a dietician and the group who had frequent telephone contact had similar average weight loss over the period of the study.

Significant improvements in waist circumference, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and measures of quality of life and weight-related symptoms occurred in all groups.

The authors suggest that frequent telephone contact with a dietician may be an effective method to provide help with the lifestyle changes required for significant weight loss.