[Effect of body weight reduction on blood pressure and biochemical data]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between body weight reduction and some complications associated with obesity. The subjects were 248 middle-aged obese persons (male 37, female 209) who participated in a weight reduction program at the Aichi Prefectural Center of Health Care from 1983 to 1990. The subjects had no severe complication, and the obesity indexes of all of them were over 120%. The program was held monthly for five months and consisted of diet (1500 kcal/day) and exercise (10000 walk steps/day). After the program, mean obesity index decreased by about 9%, and mean body weight reduction was about 5kg. Blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglyceride and GPT were significantly decreased, and HDL cholesterol was slightly increased. For each item the percentage of persons with abnormal values reduced by about 5 to 20%. From the relationship between degree of decrease of obesity and changes of the values of each item, it was estimated that some complications of obesity require greater than 5 to 10% decrease in obesity index to be affected. The value of each examination item before the program and the degree of decrease of obesity index had an effect on changes of the values, but obesity index before the program and age had little effect.