Effects of a 16-Month Randomized Controlled Exercise Trial on Body Weight and Composition in Young, Overweight Men and Women

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Abstract
REDUCTION IN the prevalence of obesity was one of the major aims of Healthy People 2000, although it is now apparent that this goal was not achieved. In 1980, data from the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey showed that 47% of adults were overweight or obese, and this figure increased dramatically in data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999) to 61% of adults.1,2 Recently, the Surgeon General indicated that obesity ranks next to cigarette smoking as a cause of preventable disease and death, with a health care cost of approximately $117 billion per year.3 Obesity contributes to heart disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and some cancers.4-6 The social and economic consequences of obesity may be as great as the health consequences. Lower levels of education, marriage, and income have recently been associated with obesity in adolescents and young adults, presumably because of discrimination.7 Treatment of obesity is notoriously difficult, and most individuals who lose weight eventually regain it.8 Thus, methods to prevent overweight and obesity are imperative.