A recent report by the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe has warned that obesity rates on the continent are at risk of reaching “epidemic proportions.” With 59 percent of adults and one in three children either overweight or obese, finding workable solutions to the problem is becoming a critical concern for doctors and dieticians. For decades, losing excess weight in a safe and durable way has been a key area of research in the healthcare sector. Tried and tested solutions may work for some, but an innovative method with strong scientific endorsement has been turning heads: the RNPC programme.
With 16 years of experience, French firm Groupe Ethique & Santé has developed an innovative method in the medical-dietary field, known as “Rééducation Nutritionnelle Psycho-Comportementale” (Nutritional Psycho Behavioural Reeducation), or RNPC. This advanced method has been recognized by international experts and is supported by strong scientific, and quantitative evidence. Today, RNPC is the only approach to weight loss that brings together doctors and dieticians at the service of each patient, to alleviate health problems associated with excess weight through lasting weight reduction.
A modern approach to weight loss
RNPC’s programme is a therapeutic approach based on achieving and maintaining lasting weight loss and preventing weight gain through personalized coaching, nutritional reeducation, and increased physical activity. Launched back in 2006, its network has expanded to 85 centers throughout France, each focused on guiding overweight patients through a non-drug therapy after being referred by their GP due to health risks such as heart conditions, type 2 diabetes, Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH), and many more serious diseases.
The programme involves working closely with each patient’s doctor, who can identify every patient’s clinical parameters which have a prognostic value for health. “First of all, RNPC’s Programme is not just a simple diet; it is a therapy of its own that should be prescribed by doctors, just like a drug or a medical aid, and which, unlike a simple diet, is a short, medium and long-term method”, explains Rémy Legrand, President, and founder of RNPC’s network. “This is why we require the patient to provide us with a recent medical check-up at their first appointment at the center”. These include blood tests and calculating variables such as the degree of abdominal adiposity, assessed by measuring waist circumference and BMI together. By doing so, RNPC’s professionals gain a better understanding of the patient’s excess weight, way of living, and nutrition habits, to develop and run a personalized therapeutic approach. From there, an RNPC dietician will be able to comprehend the factors that may have contributed to the patient’s excess weight. As the founder explains, “People who are referred by their GP to an RNPC center have generally gained weight over a fairly long period of time, from 5, 10, to 15 years, for reasons that are often beyond their control, but that can accumulate over the years. In many cases, these people do not understand why they have gained weight and feel guilty about not being able to lose it, even though they are careful with their diet. These people are often unaware of the consequences of their excess weight on their own health, especially when they are not in a situation of severe obesity. This is where we come in.”
The method then requires an energy-restricted 800–1000 calories per day, high-protein, low-carbohydrate, and low-fat diet (weight-loss phase), followed by an intensive follow-up with a stepwise increase in energy intake to reach energy balance (weight stabilization phases). “To lose weight in good conditions, it is necessary to act first on a significant caloric restriction”, explains the founder. The aim is to achieve a weight loss of 10% to 15 % of the patient’s total weight. This is a significant target, thus the programme was developed with a unique treatment strategy, based on scientific studies, and validated by a scientific committee of high-level multidisciplinary experts.
The rapid weight loss phase is then followed by five stabilization phases, “With a distribution of nutrients as validated by the DIOGenes study, i.e. 25% protein / 45% low glycaemic index carbohydrates / 30% fat. Throughout the protocol – an average of 9 months – the patient is monitored every 15 days by a state-qualified dietician trained by our method. This follow-up is once again done in close collaboration with the attending physician who refers the patient to us”, explains Rémy Legrand.
Long-term benefits
Indeed, the programme aims to achieve long-lasting weight loss to improve patients’ chances of averting any serious health problems, whether that be diabetes, heart conditions, or hypertension, amongst others. A study carried out and published in Obesity Medicine in 2018, concluded that the “RNPC® programme is well tolerated for short-term body weight loss as well as effective in the long term among the patients completing the programme. The programme might be particularly effective among patients with elevated fasting glucose.” Over 12,000 individuals participated in the study, with “median weight loss percentage at 10.7% after a median of 105 days during the weight loss phase, and a median of 17.5% after a median of 251 days at programme completion.”
This long-term effect is thanks to the metabolic parameters of the programme, which targets metabolic risk caused by excess weight. “68% of patients who had a metabolic syndrome before starting the programme had it resolved by weight loss, and 78% of patients who had a high risk of metabolic steatohepatitis had it reduced with the weight loss,” comments Rémy Legrand.
Additionally, it is generally accepted that one of the most difficult parts of weight loss maintenance is long-term. Supporting sustainable healthful behaviors requires ongoing attention, and this was also taken into consideration when developing RNPC: “We provide our patients with free lifelong follow-up to ensure that patients who have lost weight do not regain it later”, says Rémy Legrand. “Doctors play a key role in the effectiveness of the programme in both the short and long term. This is why we need to pursue, and even intensify, efforts to work together”.
The programme’s sustainable, personalized approach differentiates it from many other available weight loss solutions. Leveraging the knowledge and expertise of different actors, including a patient’s GP, means RNPC advisors have access to a global picture of each patient’s lifestyle, their level of risk of serious health conditions, and factors that have led to weight gain. This allows the RNPC’s team to develop a specific programme for the individual with dieticians, with long-term support and proven results.
