LightBAR

You can only join LightBAR if you have been directly invited to participate by your hospital.
Please only contact us if you have received an invitation.​

For people who are very overweight there are two possible options to support weight loss - surgery or non-surgical weight loss treatments. We don't know which is better. The LightBAR study will test whether the weight loss treatments or surgery are better at improving health and reducing the chances of a heart attack or stroke, or developing conditions like diabetes.

What will the study involve?

This study will last for 2 years and you will receive one of two programmes to help you lose weight. One group will try the non-surgical weight loss treatment and participants in the other group will be referred to weight loss surgery. You will not have a choice over which treatment you get.

You will be asked to lose at least 5% of your current weight before you are allocated to a treatment group.

If you are placed in the weight loss treatment group, you will receive support from a health coach for two years to help you lose weight and keep the weight off. You will be asked to try a total diet replacement diet, which will consist of soups, shakes and meals to replace all foods for 12 weeks and then, with support, to switch to a healthy, sustainable diet.

If you are placed into the other group you will be referred to weight loss surgery at your local hospital.

Who can take part?

We are asking adults aged 18-60 years who are on a waiting list for NHS weight management and have a condition that is might be partly caused by being overweight such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or sleep apnoea. To take part you have to be willing to have either weight loss surgery of the non-surgical weight loss treatment.

What will I have to do?

If you decide to take part we will also ask you to attend 4 appointments over the course of 2 years so that we can take measurements including height, weight, waist measurements from you. These appointments will be at your hospital. At 2 of these appointments, we will also ask you to have a scan called a DEXA scan at a facility close to you, to measure your body composition, including your bone density.

What does the study involve?

If you decide to be involved, we will ask you to attend a minimum of 4 appointments over 2 years, that will include:

After the first of these appointments, you will be randomly assigned to join one of the two treatment groups, either the weight loss surgery or the non-surgical weight loss treatment. Both these treatments will support and guide you to lose weight and keep the weight off to help improve your health.

Whichever group you may be placed in we would ask you to lose at least 5% of your current body weight (after that first appointment) before you can be part of the study.

How​ can I take part?​

If you are interested in finding out more, please read the full participant information sheet: LightBAR_ParticipantInformationSheet.pdf

To take part, or to speak to someone about the study, please call the LightBAR team on 01865 617847 or email: lightbar@phc.ox.ac.uk. ​​