WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
People who take part in weight-loss
programs set up by their employers manage to lose at least
modest amounts of weight compared to co-workers who do not take
part, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

But their review of 11 studies published from 1995 to 2006
of such workplace programs in the United States, Britain,
Japan, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia did not show whether
those employees who lost weight managed to keep it off.

Obesity has been on the rise in the United States and many
other countries in recent decades, alongside related illnesses
such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Some companies have sponsored programs of various kinds
aimed at helping employees lose weight and stay fit.

Dr. Michael Benedict of the University of Cincinnati
College of Medicine, who led the new research, said relatively
few studies have assessed how well these programs work.

Benedict said existing research also does not show whether
sponsoring such a program saves a company money through greater
worker productivity, lower absenteeism and reduced health care
costs.

“The programs are helpful for at least short-term, modest
weight loss in people who actually participate in them,”
Benedict said in a telephone interview.

“Part of the problem is getting the people who need it the
most to participate in them. A lot of times, health programs
really just recruit people who already are doing the right
thing,” added Benedict, whose findings were published in the
American Journal of Health Promotion.

The programs assessed in the 11 studies lasted from two to
18 months and typically involved education and counseling
efforts promoting a more healthful diet and regular exercise.

In the studies that compared employees who took part in the
programs to co-workers who did not, those in the programs lost
weight averaging in a range from 2.2 pounds (1 kg) to 14 pounds
(6.4 kg), the researchers said.

In comparison, co-workers with similar characteristics who
did not take part in the programs had a weight change ranging
on average from a loss of 1.5 pounds (0.7 kg) to a gain of 1.1
pounds (0.5 kg), the researchers found. Programs that
incorporated face-to-face contact more than once a month seemed
to work better than the others, Benedict said.

Benedict added that because people with jobs spend about
half their waking hours at work, workplace weight-loss programs
could have a big effect on slowing the obesity epidemic.

But he said the research into the effectiveness of
employer-sponsored programs has been spotty. For example, the
studies do not indicate whether people who lose weight in these
programs are able to keep it off in the long term.

“The overall body of work really is still fairly
incomplete,” Benedict said.

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Eric Walsh)