Body Weight

What practices and therapies can help you manage your body weight?

Top practices and therapies for managing your body weight

Additional therapies and practices supported by less evidence are also listed below.

Strong, good, or modest evidence of benefit

Strong evidenceconsistent, significant effects in several large (or at least one very large) well designed clinical studies or at least two meta-analyses of clinical studies of moderate or better quality (or one large meta-analysis) finding similar results (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) indicates confidence that the practice or therapy has an effect as noted. Good evidencesignificant effects in one large or several mid-sized and well-designed clinical studies (randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with an appropriate placebo or other strong comparison control or observational studies that control for confounds) (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) indicates that the practice or therapy is linked to the outcomes described with reasonable certainty. Modest evidencesignificant effects in at least three small but well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs), or one or more well-designed, mid-sized clinical studies of reasonably good quality (RCTs or observational studies), or several small studies aggregated into a meta-analysis (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) means the practice or therapy may be linked to the outcomes described, but with a lower degree of certainty.

The evidence for these effects is described in the reviews available through the image links.

• Higher body weight among people with type 2 diabetes eating a late dinner(preliminary evidence)significant effects in small or poorly designed clinical studies OR conflicting results in adequate studies but a preponderance of evidence of an effect (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently)
• Lower body weight and a weak trend toward lower body mass index among people using nonsugar sweeteners (good evidence)
• Larger waist circumference among older adults drinking diet soda (preliminary evidence)
• Higher intake of calories among females, but not males, after drinking beverages containing sucralose (preliminary evidence)
• No evidence of an effectoverall, one or more studies did not demonstrate that a treatment or intervention led to an expected outcome; this does not always mean that there is no effect in clinical practice, but that the studies may have been underpowered (too few participants) or poorly designed. Larger, well-designed studies provide more confidence in making assessments. on obesity among people eating high-calorie (energy-dense) foods in a combined analysis of reviews and combined analyses
• No evidence of an effect on total daily energy expenditure, resting metabolic rate, or weight loss among overweight or obese people following a calorie-restricted diet with morning-loaded calories

Increased lean body mass and less body fat or obesity among people treated with neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or hormone therapy, including androgen deprivation therapy, when participating in exercise (good evidence)

More lean muscle mass among people with cancer participating in exercise, especially resistance training (good evidence)

• More weight loss and less body fat among overweight people exercising to create an energy deficit of about 20% (preliminary evidence)
• More weight loss and less body fat among overweight people exercising to create an energy deficit of about 12.5% and exercising to increase total energy expenditure by 12.5% (preliminary evidence)

Green tea or EGCG: mixed evidence

Metformin: good to preliminary evidence

Nondiabetic people with cancer treated with metformin showed more weight loss across several studies. People with prostate cancer and normal blood sugar showed lower weight gain in the short term but not the long term during androgen deprivation therapy—which often results in weight gain—in one study.

Not specific to cancer:

• People without cancer who had non-diabetes metabolic imbalances, including polycystic ovary syndrome and impaired glucose tolerance, showed more weight loss when treated with metformin across many studies.

Probiotics and prebiotics: mixed evidence

• Preliminary evidence of lower measures of body weight among women with polycystic ovarian syndrome treated with synbiotics
• No evidence of an effect on measures of body weight or composition among overweight, obese, or prediabetic people treated with prebiotics in 2 small studies

Vitamin D and metformin

Not specific to cancer:

• Vitamin D and metformin, a prescription drug used to lower blood glucose levels among people with diabetes, led to lower body weight among people with polycystic ovarian syndrome across many studies.

Therapies with preliminary or weak evidence of benefit for body weight

Preliminary evidencesignificant effects in small or poorly designed clinical studies OR conflicting results in adequate studies but a preponderance of evidence of an effect (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) means the practice or therapy may be linked to the outcomes described, although substantial uncertainty remains. Weak evidenceone or more case studies, supported by animal evidence OR small treatment effects of limited clinical significance OR studies with no controls OR weak trends of effects (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) may mean that the effects are small or that a high degree of uncertainty remains about the links between the practice or therapy and the outcomes described.

No evidence or insufficient evidence of benefit

Quercetin ›

No evidence of an effect on measures of body weight among overweight or obese people treated with quercetin in a combined analysis of studies

Vitamin D ›

Not specific to cancer:

• Many studies have found a link between low vitamin D levels and obesity. We don’t know whether low vitamin D leads to obesity or obesity leads to low vitamin D levels. Studies haven’t found a clear effect on obesity among women treated with vitamin D supplements.