Research

Energy balance

A maintained weight reduction of approximately 9% or more after one year is sufficient to significantly decrease the 2-year incidence of diabetes, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypo-HDL-cholesterolemia, while a 30% reduction is required for hypertension.

You do not need to lose a massive amount of weight to see metabolic benefits. Losing just 9% of your body weight can significantly lower your risk of diabetes and lipid issues. However, preventing high blood pressure may require a larger loss (around 30%).

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
a maintained weight decrease of 9%... was sufficient to decrease the 2-year incidence of diabetes, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypo-HDL-cholesterolemia. In order to detect a significant effect on the incidence of hypertension after 2 years, an average weight reduction of 30%... was required after 1 year.
C. David Sjöström et al. · Obesity Research · 1999

Why this rating

Derived from the same high-quality SOS study, analyzing pooled data.

Source

Reduction in Incidence of Diabetes, Hypertension and Lipid Disturbances after Intentional Weight Loss Induced by Bariatric Surgery: the SOS Intervention Study

C. David Sjöström et al. · Obesity Research · 1999

DOI 10.1002/j.1550-8528.1999.tb00436.x

cohort · n=1690Cited 693×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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