Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
WEIGHT Watchers is making a pitch for millions of dollars in government subsidies, arguing it can fight fat in a more effective and cost-efficient manner than doctors.
The multinational weight-loss group will make its case at an obesity summit in Canberra next week, backed by what it says is a growing body of international evidence about the success of its approach, which is a mix of education on diet and exercise, regular monitoring and peer support.
Weight Watchers International chief scientific officer Karen Miller-Kovach pointed to a study - funded by Weight Watchers through a grant to the UK Medical Research Council and published last year in the Lancet - which found overweight and obese adults in Australia, Germany and the UK who were given a 12-month Weight Watchers membership lost twice as much weight as another group who were treated by a general practitioner. A study published in the International Journal of Obesity this year found Weight Watchers programs were more cost-effective than GP treatment.
''It's time for governments to move beyond the problem of obesity to taking action to solve it,'' Ms Miller-Kovach said.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nat...-for-government-subsidies-20121130-2amm6.html
The multinational weight-loss group will make its case at an obesity summit in Canberra next week, backed by what it says is a growing body of international evidence about the success of its approach, which is a mix of education on diet and exercise, regular monitoring and peer support.
Weight Watchers International chief scientific officer Karen Miller-Kovach pointed to a study - funded by Weight Watchers through a grant to the UK Medical Research Council and published last year in the Lancet - which found overweight and obese adults in Australia, Germany and the UK who were given a 12-month Weight Watchers membership lost twice as much weight as another group who were treated by a general practitioner. A study published in the International Journal of Obesity this year found Weight Watchers programs were more cost-effective than GP treatment.
''It's time for governments to move beyond the problem of obesity to taking action to solve it,'' Ms Miller-Kovach said.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nat...-for-government-subsidies-20121130-2amm6.html