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The benefits of intentional weight loss in people who are overweight are undeniable. However, the vast number of diets, products and lifestyles marketed to consumers presents a challenge for health professionals wanting to recommend healthy, evidence-based and sustainable interventions.
Read this 2022 report on obesity and weight loss options in Aotearoa (bpac NZ).
Te Pou collaborated with the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and Wellbeing Wellington to develop this toolkit to assist the conversations between a prescribing health professional and a person accessing their service about wellbeing and physical health.
This includes specific implications of the medication(s) they are, or may be, prescribed and information on what could be involved in discontinuing the medication.
Find out more about the Equally Well prescribing toolkit.
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners released this policy brief in 2014. The document examines obesity from a GP's perspective and identifies some practical advice for GP's around approaching this issue with patients.
Download "Tacking the growing obesity epidemic: a general practice perspective" [PDF].
A systematic review of the evidence undertaken and published in the British Medical Journal (Volume 61, Number 584, March 2011) indicated:
- Most interventions to increase physical activity were cost-effective, especially where direct supervision or instruction was not required.
- Walking, exercise groups, or brief exercise advice on prescription delivered in person, or by phone or mail appeared to be more cost-effective than supervised gym-based exercise classes or instructor-led walking programmes.
- Many physical activity interventions had similar cost-utility estimates to funded pharmaceutical interventions and should be considered for funding at a similar level.
View more research on the effectiveness of programmes like the Green Prescription (Ministry of Health).