Combination of very low energy diets and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of obesity: meta-analysis of published data.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults overweight - at least 300 million of them clinically obese - and is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease (heart disease and diabetes) and disability. The aim of the study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of published data on the combination of very low energy diets also known as very low calorie diets and pharmacotherapy for its effectiveness in the treatment of obesity. A MEDLINE (Pubmed) search from 1970 to 2009 using multiple combinations of the relevant terms was carried out; the matching articles were also searched for additional references. Meta-analysis tools were used to summarize results. Only randomized controlled trials that compared pharmacotherapy with placebo after a very low energy diet period were selected, and six articles were finally considered to be appropriate for evaluation. The combination of very low energy diet and pharmacotherapy was found to be effective for people with obesity in clinical trials. The net effect of 6.1 kg placebo subtracted weight loss after 1 year represents a clinically meaningful result that is comparable with the effect of drugs given at the start of a weight loss programme. The present meta-analysis contributes to the understanding that combination therapies are expected to achieve greater weight loss than monotherapy; grasping this understanding, researcher has introduced newer anti-obesity pharmacological approaches have embraced combination therapies.