2021 Obesity Trends

As more and more consumers struggle with obesity, a new study explored the best ways to go about leading a healthier lifestyle. 

The findings, published in the journal iScience, showed that weight loss shouldn’t be the main focus for consumers dealing with obesity-related health conditions, like diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Instead, the researchers recommend adopting healthy habits and prioritizing fitness over losing weight. 

“We would like people to know that fat can be fit, and that fit and healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes,” said a co-author of the study, Glenn Gaesser, a professor at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. “We realize that in a weight-obsessed culture, it may be challenging for programs that are not focused on weight loss to gain traction. We’re not necessarily against weight loss; we just think that it shouldn’t be the primary criterion for judging the success of a lifestyle intervention program.” 

Being healthier leads to better outcomes

The researchers analyzed data from previous studies that looked at how a focus on losing weight versus a focus on exercising and eating healthy impacted long-term health and mortality. They learned that consumers’ long-term health outcomes were better when they prioritized fitness and adopting healthy habits, as opposed to just losing weight. 

In looking at both cardiovascular disease and mortality risk, the authors found eating healthy foods and regularly exercising was associated with the most health-related improvements. The risks for both were considerably lower when participants prioritized sticking to a healthy routine as opposed to losing a certain amount of weight. 

The researchers explained that when consumers are focused on the number on the scale, they often end up in a constant cycle of trying to lose weight. The result is a lot of back and forth between healthy and unhealthy patterns. 

The researchers recommend adopting a weight-neutral approach. When the focus is on staying healthy, consumers are more likely to stick to those habits and achieve better long-term health outcomes, they say. 

“This is especially important when you consider the physiological realities of obesity,” said co-author Siddhartha Angadi, an assistant professor at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. “Body weight is a highly heritable trait, and weight loss is associated with substantial metabolic alterations that ultimately thwart weight loss maintenance.” 

Previous studies have highlighted the health risks associated with the use of pesticides. Now, researchers from McMaster University explored how a commonly used pesticide may be impacting obesity rates around the world. 

Their work showed that chlorpyrifos  --a pesticide banned in Canada that is used to clean fruits and vegetables -- may prohibit the body from burning calories, leading to weight gain. 

“Lifestyle changes around diet and exercise rarely lead to sustained weight loss,” said researcher Gregory Steinberg. “We think part of the problem may be this intrinsic dialing back of the metabolic furnace by chlorpyrifos.” 

The impact on metabolism

The researchers conducted a study on mice to determine how pesticides can impact metabolism, weight gain, and obesity. They gave the mice high-fat diets and then analyzed how exposure to chlorpyrifos affected their health outcomes. They also paid close attention to brown fat cells, which are the cells that aid in burning calories and weight loss. 

Ultimately, the researchers found that chlorpyrifos altered the normal function of brown fat cells. Rather than burning calories, exposure to the pesticide made the mice more likely to store extra calories, which is likely to contribute to weight gain and obesity. 

“Brown fat is the metabolic furnace in our body, burning calories, unlike normal fat that is used to store them,” Steinberg said. “This generates heat and prevents calories from being deposited on our bodies as normal white fat. We know brown fat is activated during cold and when we eat.” 

Though the study was conducted on mice, the researchers believe the findings can translate to human metabolisms. They explained that an extra five pounds of weight gain each year can greatly increase the risk of obesity. Unfortunately, putting on that much weight isn’t hard. Storing only 40 extra calories per day through chlorpyrifos exposure would be enough to do the trick.

Losing weight and keeping it off can be a difficult process for many consumers, but researchers from the University of Copenhagen are exploring ways to maintain a healthy weight loss. 

Their study focused on obese participants who first changed their diets to lose weight. The team found that consistently engaging in moderate to intense physical activity and taking an appetite-suppressing drug helped people maintain weight loss while staying healthy.

“The problem is that people are fighting against biological forces when losing weight,” said researcher Signe Torekov. “The appetite increases simultaneously with decreased energy consumption, and this counteracts weight loss maintenance. We have an appetite-stimulating hormone, which increases dramatically when we lose weight, and simultaneously the level of the appetite-suppressing hormone drops dramatically. 

“In addition, a weight loss can provoke loss of muscle mass, while the body reduces energy consumption. Thus, when the focus in obesity treatment has been on how to obtain a weight loss -- rather than how to maintain a weight loss -- it is really difficult to do something about your situation,” Torekov said. 

The keys to maintaining weight loss

The researchers analyzed 215 participants with obesity who had lost roughly 30 pounds before the study began but had no exercise routine in place. 

To see what methods worked best to maintain a healthy weight loss, the team created four groups: two received an appetite-suppressing drug and two were given a placebo. The groups were divided even further based on exercise; one group in each of the drug and placebo subgroups was given a moderate to intense workout routine, while the other was told to carry on with their existing physical activity regimen. 

Ultimately, the researchers learned that the combination of an exercise routine and the appetite-suppressing drug yielded the best health outcomes. Participants in this group saw improvements to key health measures, such as blood sugar, fat mass, and overall quality of life. They also lost more weight over the course of the one-year study by adhering to both treatments. 

However, not all of the groups had such positive responses to their interventions. Those who were given the placebo pill and didn’t adopt an exercise routine had a higher risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes; they also gained back half the weight they had lost. Participants who had either just received the drug or had just started exercising maintained their weight loss, but they didn’t gain any additional health benefits.

Having support is important

The researchers believe a key component of this study was the support services that were available to the participants over the course of the year. Having these resources in place helped guide participants through their weight loss and health goals, and the team believes this should be adopted more widely. 

“Without a follow-up on whether people actually have support to perform exercise, the treatment will not be enough,” Torekov said. “Therefore, we also followed up with the participants on an ongoing basis to ensure that they received the support they needed in order to exercise. That is necessary, because maintaining weight loss is extremely hard. People need to understand this. Once you have lost weight, you are not ‘cured.’ The ongoing exercise and effort will likely need to continue for many years.”