Weight-loss group wants subsidies for flab fight
Dan Harrison
INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT
Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/national/health/weightloss-group-wants-subsidies-for-flab-fight-20121130-2amfw.html#ixzz2DiNBHJ00
WEIGHT WATCHERS is making a pitch for millions of dollars in government subsidies, arguing it can fight fat in a more effective and cost-efficient manner than do doctors.
The multinational weight-loss group will make its case at an obesity summit in Canberra next week, backed by what it says is a growing body of international evidence about the success of its approach, which is a mix of education on diet and exercise, regular monitoring and peer support.
The Weight Watchers International chief scientific officer, Karen Miller-Kovach, pointed to a study, funded by Weight Watchers through a grant to Britain's Medical Research Council and published last year in The Lancet, which found overweight and obese adults in Australia, Germany and Britain who were given a 12-month Weight Watchers membership lost twice as much weight as another group who were treated by a general practitioner. A study published in the International Journal of Obesity this year found Weight Watchers programs were more cost effective than GP treatment.
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