Health & Medicine
Social Networking Programs Help Obese People Shed Excess Body Weight
Benita Matilda
First Posted: Sep 09, 2014 03:35 AM EDT
A team of researchers stated that social networking programs that are designed to battle weight loss, play a significant role in the global fight against obesity.
The study led by researchers at the Imperial College London, evaluated the results of 12 studies conducted earlier that revealed such programs have achieved modest but significant results in boosting weight loss.
In the recent decades, obesity in the United States has been cited as a major health issue. According to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention, more than one-third of the U.S. adults are obese and the estimated annual cost of obesity was $147 billion in 2008. The medical cost for obese people was $1,429 higher than those of normal weight. Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.
The finding that social networking helps people lose weight is one of the 20 reports written on global healthcare policy for the World Innovation summit for Health (WISH). During this summit, experts produced innovative ways to battle major global health issues that included obesity. One of the strategies proposed was the use of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to offer obese people a community of support from not just clinicians but also peers who would boost them to reduce weight.
To prove this, the researchers worked on data of 12 studies from Europe, U.S., East Asia and Australia that trailed social networking services for weight loss. The studies included 1,884 participants. It was seen that those who used the social networking services had a collective reduction in their body mass index. The value dropped by a value of 0.64, which according to researchers is modest but significant.
Health policy researcher and surgeon Dr Hutan Ashrafian, the lead author of the study at the Department of Surgery and Cancer in Imperial College London, said: "One advantage of using social media over other methods is that it offers the potential to be much more cost effective and practical for day-to-day use when compared to traditional approaches. The feeling of being part of a community allows patients to draw on the support of their peers as well as clinicians. They can get advice from their doctor without the inconvenience or cost of having to travel, and clinicians can provide advice to many patients simultaneously."
Using the social media to battle obesity boosts patients to be more pro-active and enables them to contribute towards their own treatment.
The finding is published in Journal Health Affairs.
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First Posted: Sep 09, 2014 03:35 AM EDT
A team of researchers stated that social networking programs that are designed to battle weight loss, play a significant role in the global fight against obesity.
The study led by researchers at the Imperial College London, evaluated the results of 12 studies conducted earlier that revealed such programs have achieved modest but significant results in boosting weight loss.
In the recent decades, obesity in the United States has been cited as a major health issue. According to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention, more than one-third of the U.S. adults are obese and the estimated annual cost of obesity was $147 billion in 2008. The medical cost for obese people was $1,429 higher than those of normal weight. Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.
The finding that social networking helps people lose weight is one of the 20 reports written on global healthcare policy for the World Innovation summit for Health (WISH). During this summit, experts produced innovative ways to battle major global health issues that included obesity. One of the strategies proposed was the use of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to offer obese people a community of support from not just clinicians but also peers who would boost them to reduce weight.
To prove this, the researchers worked on data of 12 studies from Europe, U.S., East Asia and Australia that trailed social networking services for weight loss. The studies included 1,884 participants. It was seen that those who used the social networking services had a collective reduction in their body mass index. The value dropped by a value of 0.64, which according to researchers is modest but significant.
Health policy researcher and surgeon Dr Hutan Ashrafian, the lead author of the study at the Department of Surgery and Cancer in Imperial College London, said: "One advantage of using social media over other methods is that it offers the potential to be much more cost effective and practical for day-to-day use when compared to traditional approaches. The feeling of being part of a community allows patients to draw on the support of their peers as well as clinicians. They can get advice from their doctor without the inconvenience or cost of having to travel, and clinicians can provide advice to many patients simultaneously."
Using the social media to battle obesity boosts patients to be more pro-active and enables them to contribute towards their own treatment.
The finding is published in Journal Health Affairs.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone