New research shows 10% weight loss can ease the pain of osteoarthritis and take 5 years off heart age
You can’t have missed the news this year about putting type 2 diabetes into remission with a total diet replacement (TDR) like LighterLife’s Total very-low-calorie diet (VLCD).
But have you heard that significant weight loss improves osteoarthritis symptoms and heart health? Research unveiled at the 5th UK Congress on Obesity in Newcastle on 6th September shows that weight loss with a TDR significantly reduced osteoarthritic knee pain in obese, elderly people and decreased their heart age by five years.
Although weight loss is recommended in the management of knee osteoarthritis, in practice it’s almost impossible to achieve with conventional diets.
Elderly obese patients who took part in the clinical trials, following a 16-week TDR programme, experienced an initial weight loss of 12% – 13%. The study also showed that 10% weight loss can be achieved and maintained for four years, with no significant worsening of symptoms and with improved cardiovascular risk.
Lead researcher Professor Henning Bliddal, director of the Parker Arthritis Institute at Frederiksberg Hospital in Denmark, said, “The pain of osteoarthritis is due to a number of factors including inflammation, and a sufficiently restricted diet will reduce the inflammation and hence reduce pain.
‘‘These remarkable results turn osteoarthritis treatment upside down. We should now start with weight loss if the patient with knee osteoarthritis is heavy. We know that most patients can do the programme, with well over half getting good results after four years.”
Our celebrity ambassador, Denise Welch, is very familiar with the pain osteoarthritis can cause. After following the LighterLife Total plan back in 2011, Denise lost two stone in two months, and has been maintaining for the past five years by following the LighterLife Fast 5:2.
She said, “Before I lost weight, I really suffered with my osteoarthritis; the pain was sometimes unbearable. Once I’d reached my goal, I had a check-up appointment with a consultant and was x-rayed again. The consultant told me that there was a 90% improvement – which I put down 100% to my weight loss.”
