American Psychiatric Association 1998:
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University conducted a weight-loss study to assess the benefits of visual feedback coupled with lifestyle exercising. Subjects who wore the BioTrainer with a visual display were motivated to walk 40 minutes a day on average, compared to 29 minutes for the group without feedback. Over 8 months, those in the BioTrainer feedback group lost an average of 24 pounds; the others lost only 14 pounds. The study concluded that feedback helps to motivate usually sedentary people to exercise on a regular basis. This study was carried nationally by the Associated Press. (Research supported by the National Institutes of Health - NIH #MH52049)

Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, 1999; vol. 281; #4):
A weight-loss study published by researchers from Johns Hopkins, Univ. of PA, Childrens Hosp. of PA and Cabrini College, was conducted where 40 overweight women were split into two groups. One group increased their lifestyle activities by wearing a BioTrainer with display feedback; the other group attended 3 aerobic classes per week. After 16 weeks, the study showed that increased casual activity was just as effective as exercise classes for weight loss. Both groups lost about 17.5 pounds. But after a year, the group using the BioTrainer gained only 0.5 pounds while the aerobics group regained 3.5 pounds. This study demonstrated both that increased lifestyle activity works just as well as structured exercise classes and that the BioTrainer's visual feedback was motivational and helped reduce the "yo-yo" effect during weight-loss maintenance. (Research supported by a National Research Service Award #DK09241 and the National Institutes of Health - NIH #MH00702)

American College of Sports Medicine 1999:
Studies were presented on the validity of activity monitors for the "Assessment of Lifestyle Physical Activity" by scientists at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research. The study compared the inexpensive BioTrainer with two high-end medical-grade activity monitors (TriTrac costing about $1,000 and the CSA about $900 - both with PC download). Forty-one adults wore all three monitors during treadmill, gardening tasks and home activities which were measured against VO2 calorimetry. The study concluded that the accuracy of the monitors varied from laboratory to field trials but was comparable between all 3 monitors. A second study with forty-two treadmill subjects wearing all 3 monitors concluded that the accuracy of the BioTrainer and the TriTrac was less affected by body placement than was the CSA monitor. (Research supported by the International Life Sciences Institute)

American College of Sports Medicine 1999:
Another study conducted by the Cooper Institute for project PRIME used the BioTrainer to provide an objective measure of physical activity patterns in a sedentary population. Seventy-two subjects wore the BioTrainer for 7 consecutive days to monitor their daily physical activity during normal lifestyle routines. The results showed that their average energy expenditure due to normal physical activity was 349 calories burned per day and 371 on weekends. The participants were found to spend only 1% of the day in activities greater than 2 METs. The conclusion was that this limited level of activity characterized activity patterns of sedentary adults and was insufficient for health benefits. (Research supported by the National Institutes of Health - NIH #HL58608)