It is what failed dieters have long suspected: fat people really can't keep the weight off。

　　Scientists have confirmed that the majority of overweight people who try to lose weight either by cutting calories or exercising will return to their former size。

　　Fewer than 10 percent of the 12million Britons who go on a diet each year succeed in losing significant amounts of weight and most of those who do put it all back on again within a year。

　　The study of 25,000 people provides further evidence of the prevalence of ‘yo-yo dieting’ where slimmers get into a cycle of losing weight and regaining it。

　　The scientists, from the Medical Research Council’s National Survey of Health and Development, have concluded it is better to avoid getting fat in the first place。

　　They followed 5,362 men and women from their birth in 1946 and 20,000 from birth in 1958, measuring their weight and blood pressure and assessing their lifestyles. The researchers found both groups began gaining weight in the 1980s and have steadily increased in size ever since。

　　Dr Rebecca Hardy, the council’s programme leader on body size, said: ‘Once people become overweight, they continue relentlessly upwards. They hardly ever go back down。

　　‘A few lose weight but very few get back to normal. The best policy is to prevent people becoming overweight。

　　‘For men [weight] goes up steadily through life. For women it starts slowly and accelerates in the mid-thirties.’

　　But the study’s findings do not mean dieting is pointless, as eating less and taking more exercise can increase fitness and lower blood pressure。

　　减肥失败的人们早就怀疑：胖人真的减不了肥。

　　科学家日前证实，绝大多数尝试节食或运动减肥的肥胖人群体重都会反弹。

　　在英国每年的1200万节食减肥人群中，只有不到10%能成功减去大量体重，而其中绝大多数人会在一年内反弹。

　　该研究进一步印证了“溜溜球节食效应”的流行，它是指减肥者陷入反复减肥的恶性循环。共有2.5万人参与了此项调查。

　　医学研究理事会国家卫生与发展调查机构的科学家得出结论，最好从开始就不要长胖。

　　受访者中有5362人于1946年出生，另有两万人于1958年出生，研究人员自其出生后就开始跟踪调查，包括测量体重、血压，并评估他们的生活方式。研究发现，两组人群都在20世纪80年代开始增重，且此后体重持续增加。

　　理事会体型研究项目负责人丽贝卡?哈代博士说：“人们一旦超重，就会不可收拾地胖下去。很难瘦回来。”

　　“有些人可以减掉一些体重，但很少有人减到正常。最好的办法就是从开始就不要长胖。”

　　“对男性而言，年龄越大体重越高。而女性体重则是一开始增长较慢，到35岁，体重才加速增长。”

　　但该研究并不意味着减肥无用，因为少吃多运动能促进健康，并降低血压。