Can Social Media Improve Weight Loss

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”Can Social Media Improve Weight Loss in Children?” Medscape Education Clinical Briefs, August 2016 In this two year study, a program that was developed to test the usage of social media and weight loss on 404 young adults who were obese and overweight, who were between the ages of 18-35 had a positive correlation in short term weight loss while using smart technology. In a randomized controlled trial, using Facebook and different smart app based technologies compared to the everyday advice you can receive on the web, Facebook like and smart technologies had a more significant impact on weight reductions. Unfortunately, this study did not meet its goal, which was to have a notable weight reduction in a two year time span. One of the Dr’s stated that the two year goal they allowed themselves to have, was a bit too long due to the fact that most people consider 6 months to a year to be the finish line in most things they get into. It was suggested that if social technologies down the road could assist in weight reduction for a longer period of time, we could see a trickle effect of weight reduction in young adults in big numbers. Discussing my findings with a patient who wants to get involved with a social media program that could aid them in losing weight, in my opinion from the studies done, simply wouldn 't benefit a person long term. A person’s goal when losing weight is simply to get rid of it and keep it off. I would caution them to inform their Dr when getting into different programs to make sure it is safe for them. One piece of advice I would give to them would be, if they wanted to follow a program using social media and smart applications, to partner up with somebody and use each other for guidance and help. That is one... ... middle of paper ... ... an extraordinary reduction in diabetes amongst the population in the UK by 250,000 people. Reducing sugar is just one small step at reducing diabetes, as a policy that would aim to reduce the amount of people who develop diabetes, would need to have more than just sugar reduction listed as an aid. If a patient who was suffering from diabetes was interested in getting involved with this kind of test, I would have the patient do things similar to this study. I would have them reduce the amount of sugar from their diet by 10%, but I would have them reduce another 10% every 4 months, totaling 30% every year. I would also implement salt reduction to go along with that as well. Small changes eventually become big changes. Getting the patient on a developed exercise routine would also enhance the amount of weight they could reduce and prolong the longevity of their life.

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