TUESDAY, Oct. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Lifestyle counseling from a clinical practitioner targeting prevention of weight gain may help overweight and obese individuals lose or maintain their weight, according to the results of a Dutch randomized control trial published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Nancy C.W. ter Bogt, of the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, and colleagues randomly assigned 457 overweight or obese patients with hypertension and/or dyslipidemia to lifestyle counseling from a nurse practitioner or usual care from a general practitioner. After 12 months, the researchers assessed changes in body weight, blood pressure, lipid levels, and waist circumference.

The researchers found that more patients who received lifestyle counseling lost or maintained weight (77 versus 65 percent). Obese patients in the counseling group lost significantly more weight than the non-obese (−3 versus −1.3 percent). Men lost a mean of 2.3 percent weight after counseling versus a mean of 0.1 percent after usual care, while women lost a mean of 1.6 percent in both groups. Although waist circumference showed significant reductions, blood pressure, blood lipids, and fasting glucose were unaffected.

"Standardized computer-guided counseling by NPs [nurse practitioners] may be an effective strategy to support weight-gain prevention and weight loss in primary care, in the current trial, particularly among men," the authors conclude.

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