Archive · 13 Sep 2026
ICMR-NIN Review Finds Diet, Exercise Sustain Weight Loss
Researchers studied many earlier studies about ways adults can lose weight.
They found that low-calorie diets may work fastest during the first few months.
Exercise by itself may lead to smaller early weight loss.
However, combining healthy eating with physical activity helped people keep more weight off after a year.
This combination also improved blood sugar measures.
Exercise had a strong benefit for lowering the top number in blood pressure readings.
Counselling, tracking progress and setting goals became more helpful over longer periods.
The researchers cautioned that most of the evidence came from high-income countries, so more studies are needed in India and similar countries.
Combining diet with physical activity helped adults sustain about 3.68 kg of weight loss beyond 12 months.
Low-calorie diets alone produced the largest short-term reduction, averaging 2.64 kg within three months.
Physical activity alone had the strongest effect on systolic blood pressure, reducing it by about 6.10 mmHg at six to 12 months.
Combined diet and exercise improved fasting glucose and insulin resistance beyond 12 months.
The umbrella review covered 112 reviews, 2,332 randomised controlled trials and 5,07,460 participant-observations from more than 50 countries.
- Who
- Researchers from the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, including director Bharati Kulkarni and lead researcher Mahesh Kumar Mummadi, studied adults with overweight or obesity.
- What
- An umbrella review assessed dietary, physical activity, lifestyle and combined interventions for weight loss and cardiometabolic health.
- When
- The review compared outcomes over periods ranging from the first three months to beyond 12 months.
- Where
- The review was conducted by the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad and examined studies from more than 50 countries.
- Why
- The researchers aimed to determine which non-pharmacological approaches best support sustained weight loss and improvements in health measures.
- Review source
- ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad
- Publication
- Obesity Pillars
- Evidence base
- 112 systematic reviews and meta-analyses covering 2,332 randomised controlled trials
- Participant observations
- 5,07,460
- Long-term weight loss
- Combined diet and physical activity were associated with about 3.68 kg of weight loss beyond 12 months
- Largest short-term weight reduction
- Low-calorie diets alone averaged 2.64 kg in the first three months
- Blood pressure finding
- Physical activity alone reduced systolic blood pressure by about 6.10 mmHg at six to 12 months
- Evidence limitation
- Most studies came from high-income countries, with limited evidence from India and other lower-middle-income nations