A randomized trial of lifestyle modification and taranabant for maintaining weight loss achieved with a low-calorie diet.

Improving the maintenance of weight loss remains a critical challenge for obesity researchers. The present 1-year, randomized, placebo-controlled trial evaluated the safety and efficacy of weight maintenance counseling combined with either placebo or the cannabinoid-1 receptor inverse agonist, taranabant, for sustaining prior weight loss achieved on a low-calorie diet (LCD). Seven hundred eighty-four individuals who had lost ≥ 6% of body weight during six initial weeks of treatment with an 800 kcal/day liquid LCD were randomly assigned to placebo or once-daily taranabant in doses of 0.