ALBANY, N.Y., March 17 – BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York is teaming up with the University at Buffalos School of Public Health and Health Professions for a five-year, $5 million research and treatment program to study the effects of different combinations of diet, behavioral treatment and medication on weight loss.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the annual cost of obesity in the United States is $117 billion, including health care expenses and lost productivity. An estimated $4.5 billion was spent on gastric bypass surgery in 2005, a 1,000 percent increase since 1995.

The first of its kind research will define severely obese as those who are 100 pounds or more over their ideal weight and will involve 280 BlueCross BlueShield subscribers who will be divided into four groups, each of which will follow a different non-surgical regiment for treating obesity, according to Alphonso ONeil-White, president and CEO of BlueCross Blue Shield of Western New York. At the end of the study, the outcomes and costs of medical care of the groups will be compared, as well as compared with those of a population of patients who have undergone bariatric gastric-bypass surgery.

Principal investigator to the study Michael F. Noe, M.D., UB clinical professor of social and preventative medicine and associate dean for community relations and clinical affairs, said more than 4.7 percent of the adult population in the U.S. is seriously obese and while a growing number of bariatric surgeries are being performed, its essential that alternative, nonsurgical approaches to help people who are severely overweight be evaluated and we need to determine if these new approaches are safe, doable and cost-effective. We think this study will provide some definite answers.

Researchers will measure changes in blood pressure, blood glucose, blood lipids and health related quality of life, ONeil-White said. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of four groups, with 70 subjects in each group, with the following regimens:

A low-calorie diet of between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day and behavioral treatment;

A very low-calorie diet of 800 calories daily and behavior treatment;

A low-calorie diet, behavioral treatment and medication; or

A very low-calorie diet, behavioral treatment and medication.

Behavior treatment will focus on lifestyle changes through education and skill-building in dietary change, relapse prevention and motivation strategies. Medication used will be one of two weight-loss drugs approved for long-term use, depending on each participants co-existing health conditions.