Effects of dietary intervention on weight loss and improvement of metabolic cormorbidities in a population of obese adults.

BACKGROUND: Weight loss improves most of the comorbidities associated with obesity. AIM: The purposes of this study are to determine the effects of dietary intervention and physical activity on weight management and to evaluate the beneficial effects of weight loss on metabolic profile of obese adults. METHODS: This prospective study concerned 24 obese and overweight patients recruited between 2003-2004. They have undergone a 6 months period of personalized diet and physical exercise. RESULTS: Average weight loss achieved at 6 months was 6.8 +/- 5.6 kg (P < 10). Mean fat mass reduction was 3.05 +/- 6.2% (P = 0.02) and average waist circumference reduction was 7.55 +/- 5.21 cm (P < 10(-3)). This improvement in anthropometric parameters reduced significantly fasting glycaemia (-0.58 +/- 0.87 mmol/l, P = 0.01), total cholesterol levels (- 0.37 +/- 0.69 mmol/l, P = 0.03), triglyceridemia (- 0.39 +/- 0.45 mmol/ l, P = 0.004) and increased HDL-Cholesterol levels (+ 0.1 +/- 0.38 mmol/l, P = 0.05). CONCLUSION: These results emphasize the urgent need to develop national strategies for the prevention and the management of overweight and obesity. Hence, we can improve metabolic abnormalities usually associated with obesity and reduce cardiovascular risk factors.

Frequency and risk factors of obesity in Tunisian adolescent.

UNLABELLED: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and the risk factors of obesity in Tunisian adolescent. METHODS: This prospective study included 1050 adolescents (aged 13 to 17 years) from two high schools according to the socioeconomic status. The aim was to evaluate the prevalence and the main risk factors of obesity in this studied group. The weight and height of every adolescent were measured and the Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated for each of them. Using this criteria and referring to the curves of this Index for the age established by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) we found 49 obese adolescents. We evaluated the spontaneous food intake for each of them during three days. The results showed that the frequency of obesity is 5.1% without significant difference between the two schools. The highest obesity frequency is noticed at age 13 and 14 years in the two sexes. The obesity frequency is significantly more important in males of the high socioeconomic status. Family history of obesity was noticed in 51% of obese adolescents. Most of them (96%) had abnormal alimentary behavior. 52% of them had an excess of caloric intake and 82% an excess of lipid without significant difference between the two schools.