Telephone-based diet and exercise coaching and a weight-loss supplement result in weight and fat loss in 120 men and women.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Anti-Obesity Agents in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Determine the effects of telephone-based coaching and a weight-loss supplement on the weight and body fat (BF) of overweight adults.

Who Took Part

The study group was 60 women.

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Randomized, placebo-controlled experiment with assessments at baseline, 2 months, and 4 months.

Sixty overweight or obese men and 60 overweight or obese women, 25 to 60 years.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this Anti-Obesity Agents study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Anti-Obesity Agents group a baseline to be compared against.

Eleven 30-minute telephone coaching sessions were spaced throughout the study; the initial conversation lasted 60 to 90 minutes.

Weight was measured using an electronic scale, and BF was assessed using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Adiposity, Anti-Obesity Agents, Diet, Dietary Supplements, Exercise, Hotlines and Nutritional Status.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and placebo-controlled study of Anti-Obesity Agents in 60 women.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2008 (American journal of health promotion : AJHP), a journal based in United States.

More context: all human trials.