Members of the study group were randomized to receive books on the Atkins, Ornish, Zone, and Weight Watchers diet approaches.

Weight Watchers: Cookbook Not a Diet Book

The Weight Watchers group received a Weight Watchers cookbook containing healthy recipes and basic information, which Weight Watchers differentiates from the other diet books. The Weight Watchers organization emphasizes that it does not publish diet books.

In contrast, the Ornish, Atkins, and Zone groups each received a complete self-help diet book for their assigned weight loss approach, according to Weight Watchers, which also said that the differences between the groups were not statistically significant.

All 4 diets resulted in modest statistically significant weight loss after one year, with no statistically significant differences between diets.

Weight Watchers says in a statement that its mission is to help people reach and maintain a healthy weight. "We invest tremendous resources in developing our comprehensive program materials and in training our meeting leaders so they can help people achieve their goals," the organization states. 

Although the study reported in JAMA showed the performance of one of the Weight Watchers cookbooks was comparable to the other diet books used, the group says its cookbooks are not intended to be self-help manuals.

Self-Help Diet Books Don't Work?

Weight Watchers says it does not publish self-help diet books because Weight Watchers believes in more complete approaches to weight loss. Scientific research has shown that compared with self-help, weight management success is significantly more likely with education on eating, exercise, and behavior through comprehensive materials, delivered through the supportive environment of weekly meetings, the organization maintains.

Weight Watchers weekly meetings are administered by trained staff who have also been successful Weight Watchers members and therefore can offer inspiration and real-life insights to members, the group says.

Weight Watchers notes that its meetings approach was evaluated in a two-year clinical trial versus self-help dieting, which was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association's April 9, 2003, edition. The differences between the two were statistically significant: Those randomly assigned to the Weight Watchers meetings approach lost more weight and maintained more of their weight loss than those who attempted to lose weight through a self-help method, according to Weight Watchers.

Moreover, the same study found a direct, positive connection between regular attendance at Weight Watchers meetings, weight loss, and maintenance of weight loss, the group notes.