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New research published in the June 2004 issue of Obesity Research suggests that online weight-loss websites may not be as effective as previously thought.
Investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine studied 47 women with an average weight of 199 pounds. Each of the women was randomly assigned to either the online weight-loss site eDiets.com or the LEARN Program for Weight Control, a printed weight-loss manual.
After 52 weeks of observation, women assigned to the online website lost roughly 1.1% of their initial weight, while their counterparts assigned to the printed source lost roughly 4.0% of their starting weight.
The results suggest that "commercial online weight-loss programs may not be as effective as dieters like," says lead researcher Leslie Womble, PhD, of University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine's Weight and Eating Disorders Program.
The findings run counter to what many in the medical world have previously assumed.
A 2001 study at Brown University Medical School makes a case for eDiets.com and similar websites by comparing the effectiveness of purely educational websites versus sites that, like eDiets.com, offer structured programs for weight loss.
Researchers at Brown's Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center found that dieters assigned to websites featuring structured programs along with personalized feedback from therapists had higher weight loss than those assigned to solely educational websites without the benefit of therapist feedback.
But the new study questions how effective online interactive programs really are in general use.
"Participants in the online diet reported that they logged on an average of only 18 times during the first 16 weeks," says Womble. "We thought they would log on several times a week given the convenience of the Internet."
eDiets.com could increase effectiveness of its weight loss programs, says Womble, "if changes to the website resulted in members logging on to the site more frequently and members keeping detailed food records with calorie counts."
Last year, the site unveiled the "Online/Anytime Meetings" program, offering users the chance to meet with experts through online conferences, emails, or phone calls, and to consult with over 100 different web-based support groups.
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The site's new support group feature fits nicely with a University of Vermont study of long-term weight loss. Two hundred fifty men with various levels of weight ranging from healthy to obese were assigned to support programs after a period of controlled weight loss.
The study did not look at whether the Internet helped people to lose weight, as the Pennsylvania and Brown studies did. Instead, participants first lost weight under the supervision of a counselor; then they were entered into the 18-month program, where they were assigned at random to Internet support groups, frequent face-to-face support groups, or minimal face-to-face support groups.
Participants assigned to face-to-face support groups kept the same amount
of weight off as those assigned to Internet support groups, leading
researchers to suggest that the Internet is "a viable medium for
promoting long-term weight maintenance." 
Footnotes
Wing RR, Goldstein MG, Acton KJ, et al: Behavioral science
research in diabetes: lifestyle changes related to obesity, eating behavior,
and physical activity. Diabetes Care 24: 117–123, 2001.
Womble LG, Wadden TA, McGuckin BG, et al.: A randomized trial of a commercial internet weight loss program. Obes Res 12:1011–1018, 2004.[Medline]
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