Obese Patients in UK General Practices Lose 16 Tonnes

Objectives: To assess the weight losses and weight maintenance achieved with obese, often medically compromised, patients following a common Lipotrim treatment protocol. Design: Data collation from voluntary responses by the practices to a general request for weight statistics, in a way that respects patient confidentiality. The sample of practices represents approximately 15% of those following the common protocol at the time of assessment. Setting: 25 general practices and 2 hospital clinics in the UK. Subjects: 818 obese patients registered with the practices or under medical referral to the hospital clinics The medical conditions ranged from apparently uncomplicated obesity to severely medically compromised patients, all treated under closely monitored conditions. Initial BMIs ranged from 24.4 to 78.7. Interventions: Three, phased protocols, for weight loss, transitional refeeding and weight maintenance. Weight loss phase based upon Total Food Replacement under strict medical control with specific, nutrient complete formula VLCD. Weight maintenance based upon modification of eating behaviour to significant dietary fat restriction. Considerable educational materials provided throughout programme; approached conceptually as an addiction control problem. Main outcome measures: Body weight and Body Mass Index at start of programme, at end of weight loss phase and the most recent follow-up available for each patient. Results: Weight losses totalling in excess of 16,000kg with high levels of compliance and clinically encouraging weight maintenance results. Conclusions: Obesity can be managed effectively under a variety of practice conditions, even in ‘heart sink’ patients who have repeatedly failed in the past to control their weight, despite the best efforts of the clinical team.