Oprah gets stake in Weight Watchers, but does it work?

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[h=4]Oprah gets stake in Weight Watchers, but does it work?[/h]Oprah's purchase of Weight Watchers raises questions about how well it works

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USA TODAY's Shannon Rae Green and Nathan Bomey talk about Oprah Winfrey's purchase of 10% of Weight Watchers. USA TODAY


Oprah Winfrey had purchases 10% of Weight Watchers stock, sending stock prices soaring.(Photo: PR NEWSWIRE)


Oprah Winfrey –<span style="color: Red;">*</span>who has always been open about her struggles with weight –<span style="color: Red;">*</span>clearly believes in Weight Watchers. She just bought 10% of the company's stock, sending share prices soaring.
But does the 52-year-old Weight Watchers –<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the granddaddy of all commercial weight-loss plans –<span style="color: Red;">*</span>actually work?
Only modestly, research shows.
People who were randomly assigned to follow a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Weight Watchers diet did only slightly better than a comparison group –<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people who tried to lose weight on their own or<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with the help of pamphlets or a few sessions with a health care provider –<span style="color: Red;">*</span>according to an April analysis of 45 earlier studies in Annals of Internal Medicine.

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Jefferson Graham looks at how Weight Watchers is competing with calorie counting apps like MyFitnessPal and LoseIt to attract digital audiences, on #TalkingTech. By Jefferson Graham

After 12 months of dieting, people who followed Weight Watchers lost 2.6% more weight than those who followed the comparison<span style="color: Red;">*</span>group, the analysis found. But people on NutriSystem lost 3.8% more than<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the comparison group, while those who<span style="color: Red;">*</span>followed Jenny Craig lost 4.9% more.
All of the health plans studied "had modest improvement, and most of the weight-loss was short-term," said David Ludwig,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children's Hospital.
USA TODAY
Oprah makes $70M in one day from Weight Watchers deal




Weight Watchers has "been one of the chief advocates of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>calorie<span style="color: Red;">*</span>counting," said Ludwig, author of an upcoming book called<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Always Hungry?: Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"That concept may work in the lab,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>but it's becoming increasingly<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ineffective in the real world. ... You can cut back on calories, but that disregards a basic fact that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>our body fights back as we lose weight. Our hunger increases, but our metabolism slows down."
USA TODAY
Late Weight Watchers founder: Food isn't 'remedy' for problems




Dietitian Sue Cummings credits Weight Watchers with updating its message over the years, based on important scientific findings, while<span style="color: Red;">*</span>refusing to embrace every new fad.
"It never really fell into any of that quackery –<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the<span style="color: Red;">*</span><span style="color: Red;">*</span>quick weight-loss fixes, where if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," said Cummings, coordinator of clinical programs and services for the Massachusetts General Hospital<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Weight Center in Boston.
Cummings said Weight Watchers is the only commercial program to which she would refer patients.
The fact that people often fail to lose weight or maintain that loss,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>even with the help and support provided by Weight Watchers meetings,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>shows that the USA has an uphill battle in fighting the obesity epidemic, Cummings said.
Two in three Americans are overweight, while one in three is obese.
USA TODAY
Oprah buys 10% of Weight Watchers, stock soars




"Weight watchers is good initial, relatively low-cost, non-invasive program," said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Philip<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Kern, a professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology at the University of Kentucky, noting that it's hard to compare one program with another, because "people are going to do what they want," regardless of their diet program's instructions.
"Some people need more motivation or professional help than (Weight Watchers)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>can give," Kern said. "And of course it is very hard to modify behavior when the bad behaviors are all around us."
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