DIETING TO combat obesity will only get short-term results and is like "taking aspirin for a toothache", a world authority on obesity has said.
Dr Maurice Larocque, the founder of Motivation Weight Management Clinics, told a conference in Dublin at the weekend that the problem of obesity is not a food problem but a lifestyle issue.
Dr Larocque is a pioneer in "mental weight", a technique which looks at the psychological and behavioural reasons for an unhealthy diet or overeating and not just at food intake.
Dr Larocque told the seminar at the Beacon Clinic in Sandyford on Saturday that much of the obesity epidemic worldwide has been caused by a more sedentary lifestyle and the replacement of natural sugars in many foods and soft drinks with fattening fructose corn sugar.
However, he said quality and quantity of the food people chose to eat has drastically changed and people were typically less active. Individual responsibility remained the key in tackling obesity, he said.
"Food is not the problem. If food was the problem, diets would be the answer. Following a diet without a good behaviour modification programme is pointless and a total waste of time and money.
"I often say it is like taking aspirin for a toothache, you only get short-term results," he said.
The Motivation Weight Management programme employs behavioural evaluation and re-training therapy (Bert) to analyse a patient's behaviour and attitude.
Patients are required to complete a "mental weight" questionnaire which is then analysed by a clinic consultant. This process is repeated every four weeks in order to monitor changes in the patient's attitude towards food.
Dr Larocque claims that patients attending Motivation Weight Management Clinics maintained 86 per cent of their weight loss over a three-year period.
