Losing Weight Could Reverse Heart Disease, Australian Researchers To Study

Wittert says weight loss for heart patients could save millions on healthcare

The Advertiser reports on a brand new study currently underway in Australia where scientific researchers there are seeking to prove the theory that weight loss can actually reverse the adverse effects of heart disease in patients who have experienced varying levels of damage due to poor diet and exercise habits.

Researchers from the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the University of Adelaide announced their exciting new clinical trial study at the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity conference in Adelaide, Australia on Saturday.

Led by endocrinoligist and medical professor Dr. Gary Wittert, the results of the study will not be available until 2008 but could change the way doctors treat and diagnose heart disease in the foreseeable future.

The two-year study will look at 80 overweight and obese men using state-of-the-art MRI technology to look at the heart muscle and blood vessels of each of the participants who are "significantly overweight" both before and after they lose weight. Each of the men in the study will be require to lose a minimum of 10 percent of their initial body weight through meal replacement bars, diet, and exercise.

Dr. Wittert is hopeful that his team of researchers will discover that even a moderate loss of weight in patients susceptible to heart damage and other cardiovascular problems will see improvements in their health without expensive prescription medicines.

"Treatment for heart disease and related illness currently requires substantial medications at a huge cost to the health system and individual," he stated. "Can you imagine the savings that could be made if the treatment is weight loss - if we can prove that losing weight can reverse the damage?"

So far there has only been "anecdotal evidence" in support of this theory but "no proof" from the medical science community as of yet, Dr. Wittert explained. That is what this new study hopes to uncover.

Nearly three out of every four Australians between the ages of 55 and 64 are either overweight or obese right now because they have simply done nothing to improve their health or waistlines which has put their cardiovascular health at great risk.

"If we can try to understand the relationship between obesity and weight then we can redefine treatment for these people," Wittert concluded.

As someone who successfully lost 180+ pounds, I cannot even begin to tell you the enormous turnaround in my health from so many vantage points. Besides the obvious weight load I am no longer carrying around, especially in my midsection, my breathing is better, my cholesterol numbers have greatly improved, my blood pressure is stable, my activity level has increase dramatically, my energy level is the best it has ever been in my entire life, the nagging aches and pains I used to deal with are gone forever, my strength is better, and my overall health could not be any better than it is right now.

It is amazing how even a little bit of weight loss can produce such a dramatic difference in your health. A 10 percent weight reduction is only 30 pounds in a 300-pound man, and yet it can help improve your health more than you could imagine. If that 300-pound man just committed to losing 10 percent of his body weight each year for the next three years, then he would be a much healthier 219 pounds by 2008. That doesn't sound impossible to do, does it?

By that time, Dr. Wittert and his professional team of obesity researchers will have the results of their study concluded and ready to shock the world with what they find. Then the debate will shift from the fact that people need to lose weight to reverse heart damage to HOW they can lose weight. This is where people who have been successful on and support livin' la vida low-carb as the best weight loss solution will need to make their voices heard loud and clear for the whole world to hear.

You can send an e-mail to Dr. Gary Wittert at gary.wittert@adelaide.edu.au.