Cardiometabolic Health Improves with Weight Loss

Serum glucose, insulin, C-reactive protein (CRP), and blood lipids including LDL (low density lipoprotein,” bad”) cholesterol are key markers of cardiometabolic health, and often reach unhealthy levels in people who are overweight or obese.  Cynthia A. Thomson, from the University of Arizona (Arizona, USA), and colleagues studied  417 women, ages 18 years and older, with a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 40 kg/m2 and who were at least 15 kg above their ideal body weight.  The women were assigned to a center-based, telephone-based or usual care diet intervention.  The researchers took fasting blood samples at the study’s start, and at 12 and 24 months.  While 70% of women had sustained weight loss at 24 months, those women who participated in either of the two structured weight loss strategies achieved greater reductions in body weight, BMI, and waist circumference over the course of the study, as compares to those in the usual care group.  Importantly, those subjects who lost a modest amount of weight and kept it off for 2 years saw improvement in almost every measure of cardiometabolic health. The team submits that their data “suggest[s] that the magnitude of weight loss and baseline values for risk factors are associated with improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors even after 24 months.”