Predictors of weight change in men: Results from The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Since the prevalence of adult obesity is increasing in the United States, we examined the effect of changing common habits (exercise, TV viewing, smoking and eating habits) on four year change in body weight. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study of US male health professionals with follow-up from 1988±1992. Participants were 19 478 men aged 40±75 in 1986, who were free of cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes. METHODS: Multiple regression was used to determine the association between four year change in body weight (from 1988±1992) and common habits, after adjusting for baseline age, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. RESULTS: For middle aged men, vigorous activity was associated with weight reduction and TVaVCR viewing and eating between meals with weight gain. Quitting smoking and a history of voluntary weight loss prior to the study period were consistently related to weight increase. Recently being on a diet was more strongly associated with weight loss among older men. Over the four year follow-up period, middle-aged men who increased their exercise, decreased TV viewing and stopped eating between meals, lost an average weight of 71.4 kg (95% con®dence interval (CI)71.6 ± 71.1 kg), compared to a weight gain of 1.4 kg among the overall population. The prevalence of obesity among middle-aged men was lowest among those who maintained a relatively high level of vigorous physical activity, compared to those who were relatively sedentary. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that improvement in the mix of health habits, particularly increasing vigorous activity, as well as decreasing TV use and changing eating habits, results in weight maintenance or a modest weight loss over four years.

Influence of sociodemographic factors in the prevalence of obesity in Spain. The SEEDO'97 Study

“…In recent decades the urbanisation process in Western societies has been associated with lower energy output at work, in household tasks, increased use of public transportation, cars and lifts, among other factors (Haapanen et al, 1997;Coakley et al, 1998). An increased BMI has been reported among ex-smokers (Flegal et al, 1995;Molarius et al, 1997).…”

Changes in weight and waist circumference over 9 years in a Scottish population

“…There are a number of large cohort studies that have tracked weight change in the United States (Coakley et al, 1998;Fine et al, 1999;Field et al, 2001a) and elsewhere (Heitmann and Garby, 1999;Hughes et al, 2002). However, longitudinal studies in which increases in weight and body mass index (BMI) are examined in relation to socio-demographic variables in a population cohort in the United Kingdom are scarce.…”

How dieting makes some fatter: from a perspective of human body composition autoregulation

“…In the decade that followed, however, more than a dozen prospective studies (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) , conducted over periods ranging from 1 to 15 years, have suggested that dieting to lose weight is associated with future weight gain and obesity, with many of them showing this association even after adjustment for potential confounders such as baseline BMI, age and several lifestyle and behavioural characteristics. Particularly informative are the 3-year follow-up studies of Stice et al (15) showing that adolescents with baseline dieting had three times the risk of onset of obesity than the non-dieters, and the 6-15-year follow-up study of Korkelia et al (16) reporting that initially normal-weight subjects who were attempting to lose weight had two times the risk of major weight gain (> 10 kg) than non-dieters.…”