
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 20, 1994                   TAG: 9410200086
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                  LENGTH: Short

REPORT: YO-YO NOT THAT BAD

Yo-yo dieting - repeatedly losing and gaining weight - does not appear to carry significant health risks, researchers reported.

The report by the National Task Force on the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity ``kind of flies in the face of current medical opinion,'' said Dr. Susan Z. Yanovski, a task force member and researcher at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

Previous studies have indicated that yo-yo dieting may disrupt the body's metabolism, increase body fat and lead to heart problems and other health risks.

But in reviewing nearly 30 years of medical data on the subject, including studies on animals and humans, the task force determined that health risks associated with obesity are far more conclusive.

``There is no convincing evidence that weight cycling in humans has adverse effects on body composition, energy expenditure, risk factors for cardiovascular disease or the effectiveness of future efforts at weight loss,'' the researchers wrote in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

by CNB