How effective are meal replacements for treating obesity?
Background – Effective weight loss strategies are needed to reduce cardiovascular disease risk. Meal replacements as a weight loss strategy are widely used in the community however it is not known how effective they are outside a controlled clinical trial environment. Objective – To compare the use of meal replacements (MR) twice a day with a structured low fat (C) weight loss diet on weight, lipids, inflammatory and thrombotic markers and vascular physiology. Design – Randomised, parallel design in overweight volunteers with a triglyceride >2 mmol/L. Outcomes – Fifty-five subjects completed 3 and 6 months. After 3 months weight loss (Mean +/- SEM) was 6.0 +/- 4.2 kg (MR) and 6.6 +/- 3.4 kg (C group) (P< 0.001) with no differences between the groups. At 6 months weight loss was 9.0 +/- 6.9kg (MR) and 9.2 +/- 5.1kg (C). At 12 weeks triglycerides fell significantly in C (0.48 mmol/L or 25%) but not in MR (4%) (P< 0.05 between diets). There was no difference at 6 months. Inflammatory mark
