LiveLongAgeWell

I’ve seen several stories in the media recently regarding the average holiday season weight gain, and the various reports claim from one to ten pounds. I was curious about why such a wide range, and decided to look at the research. I found that probably the more accurate weight gain is closer to one pound than ten. However—and this is important whenever evaluating how good the research is—it’s good to know: who were the group of people (“subjects”) that the researchers studied to reach their conclusions?

When I read some of these studies on holiday weight gain, the researchers in the most prominent studies seemingly did not look at a cross-section of average Americans. In one highly quoted study the subjects were 94 Oklahoma college students, studied only over the short Thanksgiving holiday; not much of a time period. And since the students knew they were being monitored for a weight gain study, they may well have moderated their normal eating habits to not look “bad” when weighed at the end. Whatever, the result was an average gain of only one pound (0.5 kg).

The other highly quoted study recruited 200 people from the campus at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Only in the detail of the study do you see that 88% of the subjects worked at the NIH. I suspect this group was not representative of typical Americans; they were probably (hopefully) more health conscious—they worked at the National Institutes of Health! The conclusion again was an average gain of only one pound. They followed the subjects longer, into the next fall, and found, disturbingly, that the weight people gained during the holidays was usually not lost later in the year.

So you can see that the subjects studied in each of these reports were not typical Americans. Many studies, including important ones testing for possible side effects in new drugs, are done by recruiting otherwise healthy college students, and the results might not apply to the average older person who might actually need that drug someday. Medical centers often recruit students for their studies because the hospitals are located on campuses and it’s easy to find willing student subjects, especially if they can earn a few dollars  participating.

Enough today about studies….now what can you do to prevent your own weight gain this year-end? Look at this link from the Cleveland Clinic: 8 Steps to Surviving Holiday Weight Gain. My favorite of their hints: don’t forget to keep up aerobic activity during the holidays, and never go to a party hungry! Next week I’ll post my take on the 12 Best And Worst Beverages For Weight Loss.