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# Intentional weight loss lowers death risk
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/intentional_weight_loss_lowers_death_risk_0704150121/
- Published: 2015-07-04T14:20:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T15:49:28.000Z
- Description: A meta-analysis of 15 randomized trials with 17,186 participants found intentional weight loss, averaging 5.5 kg, was tied to a 15 percent lower risk of death from any cause. Similar results held among people aged 55 and older followed four years or more.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Obesity, Avoiding Illness, #vivvo-import

Saturday July 4, 2015 (foodconsumer.org) -- Stephen B. Kritchevsky from Wake Forest School of Medicine inWinston-Salem, North Carolina, USA and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of data from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of weight loss and found that intentional weight loss lowered the risk of death from all causes.

Early studies linked obesity to increased mortality and weight loss to improvement of many mortality risk factors. The current study yielded direct evidence that intentional weight loss could help cut the risk of all cause death by up to 15%.

For the study, researchers meta-analyzed data from 15 RCTs involving 17,186 participants with mean body mass indices ranging from 30 to 46 kg/m2 who were followed for 18 months to 12.6 years. The weight loss interventions in the study arms resulted in 5.5 kg on average. 

During the follow-up, 264 deaths were reported in weight loss groups and 310 in the control groups or the death risk in the weight loss groups were 15% lower than that in the control groups.

Similar results were found in trials of participants at a mean age of 55 years or older who were followed for 4 or more years. (David Liu)

Stephen B. Kritchevsky, Kristen M. Beavers, Michael E. Miller, Denise K. Houston, Dalane W. Kitzman, Barbara J. Nicklas, Intentional Weight Loss and All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials, PLOS One, 2015