GP referrals for weight management and physical activity programmes are failing to curb obesity, researchers have claimed.

A study of UK health records led by King’s College London found that the chance of an obese person attaining normal body weight is 1 in 210 for men and 1 in 124 for women, increasing to 1 in 1,290 for men and 1 in 677 for women with severe obesity.

The research, published in the American Journal of Public Health, suggests current weight management programmes focused on dieting and exercise are not proving effective in tackling obesity on a national scale.

The research tracked the weight of 278,982 participants (129,194 men and 149,788) women using electronic health records from 2004 to 2014. The study looked at the probability of obese patients attaining normal weight or a 5 per cent reduction in body weight; patients who received bariatric surgery were excluded from the study. A minimum of three body mass index (BMI) records per patient was used to estimate weight changes.

Lead researcher Dr Alison Fildes said current methods were failing to make an impact and called for a shift towards prevention rather than cure, as was recently advocated by the Health Select Committee.

"Current strategies that focus on cutting calories and boosting physical activity aren't working for most patients to achieve weight loss and maintain that,” Fildes said.

"The greatest opportunity for fighting the obesity epidemic might be in public health policies to prevent it in the first place at a population level."

The physical activity sector has been leading the way in offering its exercise and weight management skills to facilitate GP referrals – with some success – however, the King’s College figures show there is still a long way to go. Recent efforts have focused on coaching the skills required to facilitate behaviour change among sedentary patients, exemplified by an innovative partnership between Lifetime Training and Everyone Active

Meanwhile, experts have identified a need to work more closely with frontline healthcare professionals to boost the effectiveness of referrals. GPs such as Dr John Morgan, who hit headlines with his ‘exercise is medicine’ philosophy, have been staunch supporters of exercise referrals, however a recent white paper produced by Technogym concluded that the industry must build greater confidence among healthcare professionals and stakeholders in exercise referral programmes.