The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

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  • Recent Comments

    Fewer calories or more exercise: Which is best for weight loss?

    A study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reveals that dieting alone is as effective at reducing weigh and fat as a combination of diet and exercise — as long as the calories consumed and burned are equal.

    There was one important difference, however.

    Here are the details.

    • 35 overweight but otherwise healthy adults randomly assigned to follow one of 3 diet and exercise combinations over 6 months
    • Group 1 followed a healthy diet designed to maintain the participants? bodyweight
    • Group 2 followed a diet that reduced their caloric intake 25% (550 and 900 fewer calories per day)
    • Group 3 reduced their calorie intake by 12.5% while increasing physical activity to achieve an additional 12.5% increase in calorie expenditure

    And the results.
    Groups 1 and 2 lost about 10% of their body weight, 24% of their fat mass, and 27% of their abdominal visceral fat. The distribution of the fat in the body, however, was not altered by either approach.

    There was one difference: Including exercise (Group 3) improved aerobic fitness.

    The researchers concluded, “Exercise therefore, plays an equivalent role to caloric restriction in terms of energy balance; however, it can also improve aerobic fitness, which has other important cardiovascular and metabolic implications.”

    1/29/07 21:50 JR

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