Obesity is a disease that affects almost one-third of the adult American population, according to the American Obesity Association.

About 64.5 percent or 127 million of adult Americans are categorized as being overweight or obese.

The National Institutes of Health backed a study that demonstrates why obese people should adopt healthy habits even if they take weight-loss drugs.

In short, diet pills should be accompanied by diet and exercise.

But, according to Vivian Chavez, SF State professor of Health Education, most people, obese or not, fail to adopt healthy diet and exercise habits.

“We fail or ignore the advice of changing eating and exercise habits because we are surrounded by an overabundance of food in a fast food culture,” Chavez said.

“The issues of obesity are complex because there is an entire system benefiting on making people fat,” Chavez continued.

SF State professor of Kinesiology, Robyn Lock, said most people have a hard time adopting healthy habits because of psychological and sociological reasons.

“Exercise habits are extremely difficult to change because the benefits are not realized immediately,” Lock said. “Since we live in a culture that prizes immediate gratification, anything long term rapidly looses its appeal.”

In the study of 180 women and 44 men, the most successful patients took the weight-loss drug Meridia along with a 1,500-calorie daily diet and took half-hour walks on most days.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that obese people who only took diet pills typically lost 11 pounds, but when they added the full program of lifestyle changes, they lost 27 pounds.

“Pills will only address temporary weight loss while lifestyle change and environmental changes are longer lasting,” Chavez said. “What is crucial is social support and the commitment to a lifetime of lifestyle changes.”

Professor Lock said these people need social support and lifestyle changes in order to keep their weight off.

”Many people put back the weight they lost after a weight loss program because many programs/diets fail to address lifestyle issues, and therefore, when the diet program ends, so do the behaviors that produced the weight loss,” Lock said.

“Those individuals who do manage to keep the weight off in the long term are those who were fortunate enough to confront and change the behaviors that resulted in the weight gain.’’

Chavez warns that weight-loss pills can cause dependency, addiction and frustration (when the weight gain returns at an even higher rate).

“People should be careful [while taking these pills] because of how it may combine with their own body rhythms as well as contribute to negative body image—wanting to get rid of weight fast.”

The side effects of Meridia, for instance, include higher heart rate and blood pressure in some patients.

You can go to http://www.obesity.org/ to find out more about obesity and its effects.