Active clinical trials for "Weight Loss"

This study tests the efficacy of the medication, Qsymia, as an adjunct therapy in superobese individuals planning to undergo weight loss surgery. Individuals taking the medication before and after surgery will be compared to historical controls who had surgery without taking the medication.

The purpose of the trial is to assess the effects of combining regular, generous intakes of high quality protein (primarily from lean pork and other animal source proteins) with calorie restriction on functional status and lean muscle mass in frail, obese, women who participate in a 6 month intervention and 9 month intervention.

Morbid obesity is an increasing medical problem in the western countries. It's related to comorbidities as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, OSAS, arthrosis and hypercholesterolemia. The Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) is an effective surgical therapy for morbidly obese patients. A part of these patients will have disappointing results, and have weight regain on the long term. Some studies show more weight reduction by increasing the biliopancreatic limb in patients with morbid obesity. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of variations in the length of biliopancreatic limb on weight reduction in morbidly obese patients undergoing RYGB-surgery. We hypothesize that longer biliopancreatic limb results in more weight reduction. The study design is a prospective, randomized control trial. The patients will be randomized in 2 groups: a standard RYGB (short biliopancreatic limb) and long biliopancreatic limb RYGB.

Obesity is increasingly common and can lead to decreased quality of life, increased medical and psychiatric illness, high health care costs, and early mortality. The problem of obesity is as great in veterans as it is in the general public. Adherence to dietary therapy for obesity is often inadequate, possibly because patients' food preferences are not considered during dietary counseling. Allowing patients to choose a diet based on their food preferences may increase their motivation to adhere to diet counseling. This, in turn, could enhance their weight loss success and, ultimately, reduce the many health complications and costs of obesity. The proposed study will examine whether assessing a person's food preferences, and then allowing the person to choose from two commonly prescribed diets, results in greater weight loss success.

This is a 4-arm, randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of financial incentives to motivate and sustain long-term weight loss. The study will recruit eligible employees at a large health management company to participate in a 6-month weight loss program and have weight measurements for an additional 3-month follow-up period. The primary outcome measure in this randomized controlled trial will be pounds of weight lost. The experimental groups will include variations of deposit contracts (participants put their own money at risk, and lose that money if they fail to achieve their weight loss goal) and fixed payments. The use of deposit contracts is a powerful mechanism for inducing behavior change that is based on loss aversion, a psychological concept first described by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in 1979. A deposit contract takes advantage of the fact that people typically feel the pain of a loss more than the pleasure of a gain, increasing ones motivation to reach a goal. The study hypotheses are 1) mean weight loss will be greater in all intervention groups compared to the control group by the end of 24 weeks; and 2) individuals in the intervention groups will have a lower mean weight at the end of the 3-month follow-up period than individuals in the control group.

The investigators studied the effect of motivational interviewing (MI) on self-efficacy, health behaviors, and health outcomes in overweight children and adolescents (ages ranging from 10 to 18 years).

Several studies have shown differences in health-related outcomes by dietary pattern. These patterns have included those participants following vegan (no meat, poultry, fish, dairy, or eggs), vegetarian (no meat, poultry, or fish), pesco- vegetarian (no meat or poultry), semi-vegetarian (red meat and poultry ≥ 1 time/month and < 1 time/week), or omnivorous diets. These studies have shown that of these dietary patterns, vegans have the lowest BMIs, lowest prevalence of Type 2 diabetes, and lowest amount of weight gain over 5 years. In addition, vegetarians have significantly better metabolic risk factors as compared to non-vegetarians. While these initial observational studies have shown benefits to consuming more plant-based diets, there have been no randomized trials examining the differences in health outcomes among these dietary patterns. To begin exploring this research area, the investigators will conduct a pilot study which will randomize participants to one of the 5 dietary approaches. Participants (n=75) in the NEW DIETs Study will be recruited to follow their randomly assigned diet for 8 weeks and attend weekly sessions to learn about nutrition and cooking.

The purpose of this study is to learn the impact stress may have on weight management and emotional eating.

Overweight and obesity play a role in both cancer incidence and survival rates. Many people have found attending weight loss support groups to be time-intensive. Past research has shown electronic media, particularly the Web, to be effective in producing weight loss. The Web, however, lacks portability, which prevents people from accessing the information when it is convenient for them. Providing weight loss information via podcasting (audio files that may be listened to on portable audio players) may allow people to receive weight loss tips anywhere. A previous research study showed that podcasts emphasizing healthy eating and exercise can help people lose weight. This study was short-term and did not include additional social support. The purpose of this research project is to assess the effectiveness of a weight loss intervention delivered through podcasts as compared to the same podcast with added mobile media such as self-monitoring software (such as a pedometer) and support delivered via a social networking site. For this research study, the investigators will conduct a 6-month study in 104 overweight adults to determine if a podcast plus mobile media support leads to greater weight loss than a podcast alone.

Rates of overweight and obesity are increasing, particularly among individuals aged 18 to 29. An estimated 25-35% of American college and university students are overweight or obese. Contingency Management (CM) is a behavioral intervention that provides tangible rewards for positive behaviors. CM has substantial evidence of efficacy in reducing smoking and drug use and increasing treatment retention and medication compliance. The current study will evaluate the efficacy of a 24-week CM intervention to promote weight loss in overweight and obese university students. Seventy participants with a body mass index (BMI) of 27.0-34.9 will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (a) LEARN, a manual guided behavioral weight loss program (Brownell, 2004), with weigh-ins and supportive counseling, or (b) LEARN with weigh-ins and supportive counseling plus CM. Participants in the CM condition will earn chances to win prizes each week in which they lose at least one pound. Once they lose 5% of baseline body weight, they will earn chances to win prizes for weight loss or weight maintenance. Additional chances can be earned by completing activities that promote weight loss. The primary outcomes will be absolute and proportional weight loss from pre- to post-treatment, as well as proportion of participants achieving clinically significant weight loss (>5% of baseline weight) and proportion moving into a lower risk BMI category. Secondary outcomes will include length of retention in the study, increase in physical activity level, and improvement in nutritional quality of diet. Effects of the CM intervention on psychiatric distress and self-efficacy and motivation to engage in activities that promote weight loss will also be assessed. We predict that participants in the CM condition will lose more weight than participants assigned to the LEARN program without CM, and that more CM participants will achieve clinically significant weight loss. We also predict that participants in the CM condition will remain in the program longer, show larger increases in physical activity, show greater improvements in diet quality, and have greater increases in levels of self-efficacy and motivation than comparison group participants. Mediators and moderators of CM outcomes will also be evaluated. If efficacious in promoting weight loss in a college population, CM could help to prevent or delay later development of obesity-related medical problems.