TOP 5 Innovative Ways to Fight Obesity and Weight Gain Without Drugs

Obesity is the plague of our time. In most of the cases it is not the direct cause of death or other health issues, but it is among the top secondary factors for them.

In this article I will familiarize you with 5 clinical projects that aim to fight obesity without applying ANY DRUGS. But first, let’s get acquainted with few very important facts, provided by the World Health Organisation, that I believe everyone needs to be aware of:

· Obesity has more than doubled worldwide since 1980.

· In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years old and older, were overweight. Over 600 million of these were obese.

· 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2014, and 13% were obese.

· Most of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than malnutrition.

· 42 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2013.

· Obesity is preventable and curable.

And yet obesity continues to grow according to the last statistics. Location matters too. There are certain regions in the world where obesity is more widespread than elsewhere. We can simply see this by looking at the number of clinical trials being conducted there. Currently, there are 6823 clinical trials in total registered and fighting obesity — 3290 of them are in the USA and 1687 - in Europe.

No matter where you are based you need to know that it depends on you and your choices to fight obesity. The good news I have for you is that you don’t need any drugs for that. There are plenty of clinical trials that are actually not related to drugs developing. I have selected the top 5 most innovative clinical projects you can take advantage of. Some of them might be the key to the fight with obesity and weight gain.

1. Walnut-enriched diet

This study organised by the University of California, San Diego, in collaboration with the Californian Walnut Commission proves that adding nuts (in this case walnuts) to your regular diet helps you reduce your weight. This is all combined with individualized counselling, group sessions, e-mails, phone contacts in order to support the process. The study takes 6 months to show results compared to the group of people with standard reduced diet. So, if you like walnuts and you are between 21 and 75 years old, now is the time to think about this project.

2. Mindfulness and Psycho-education

The study organised by the University of Massachusetts overlooks around 80 people divided in 2 main groups. The groups will experience different types of weight loss programs. The first one is focused on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. It will take 8 weeks of exercises for achieving full mindfulness individually investigating the role thoughts and emotions play on our health. The second focus group will have Healthy Living Course (HLC) for the same period of time. Participants will enjoy training on time- and stress management as well as unhealthy behavior like smoking and drinking. The study is for people between 25 and 60 years old and will continue till 2017. Let’s hope that one of this methods will be the winning one.

3. Body Vibration Training

It is something that is not so far away from what we have heart. In other words, the technology is similar to the known Power Plate, but clinically tested by the Oregon Health and Science University. Researchers are trying to prove that people can loose weight and keep it stable by training 3 times a week for 20 minutes on a vibrating platform. The 170 participants will have to do this for at least 6 months and then they will compare their results with other people not having major changes in their life style. I don’t know about you, but this sounds as the lazy method we have all waited for. Crossed fingers for this to be a successful trial!

4. Therapy of Acupuncture and Yoga Exercise

Another interesting study that examines the positive effects of acupuncture and yoga exercise on weight loss. It is a project initiated by the Chang Bing Show Chwan Memorial Hospital. There are again 2 groups of people. The first one will experience acupuncture about 30 mins performed by a traditional Chinese physician three times a week for 3 months. The other one will combine the acupuncture with yoga exercises 3 times a week for 3 months. The acupuncture is believed to suppress the people`s appetite, slow down the stomach`s creeping motion, and increase the stomach`s evacuation time. The study will start with 74 participants between 20 and 50 years old.

5. Game-oriented Applications

Participants will receive narrative-based games on a mobile device and telephone counseling (weekly for the first 12 weeks, then once per month until 6 months). The study is organised by the The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston and is attempting to use technology, the drive for competition and rewarding system that people experience.

The interesting fact is that the same approach is used for preventing breast cancer, so I truly hope that it will have great results on all 120 participants planned to participate.