Danielle George - All Headline News Staff Reporter

New York (AHN)- In a Reuters Health article, Dr. J. Bruce Redmon and colleagues from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, examined the effects of combining several weight loss strategies in a study involving 59 overweight or obese subjects with type 2 diabetes.

She found that combining calorie-controlled diet and the weight-loss pill Meridia proved to be effective.

A total of 48 patients completed the study, including 23 in the combination group and 25 in the control group.

The results are published in the medical journal Diabetes Care. After 2 years, subjects in the combination group had lost an average of 4.6 kilograms, or 10 pounds.

They also showed significant decreases in long-term blood glucose levels, fat mass, lean body mass, and blood pressure. Little weight loss occurred the control group in the first year of standard therapy. But by the end of the second year, after switching to the combination strategy, reductions in blood glucose and weight were similar to those seen in the other group.

The combination strategy was "simple and easy for subjects to understand and implement," the investigators note, at a cost of about $6 per day.