Vancouver, Oct. 18 (Reuters): Obese women who start to lose weight will also see an improvement in the quality of their sex lives, according to a US study released on Monday.

Even a moderate weight loss reduced complaints of feeling sexually unattractive and led to improved desire, according to the study presented at the annual meeting of The North Am- erican Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) in Vancouver.

“If people experience benefits and rewards from their weight loss and health efforts, it may motivate them to continue a healthy lifestyle,” said Martin Binks, director of behavioral health at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina.

Researchers who tracked 161 obese women participating in a prescription weight loss programme in Minnesota found almost two-thirds reported problems with aspects of their sex life when the study began.

Within the first year, the percentage of women who said they had problems with sexual desire dropped to 15 per cent from 39 per cent and the number who felt they were sexually unattractive dropped to 26 per cent from 68 per cent.

The Minnesota programme lasted for two years, but health officials said it was normal for the majority of the weight loss to be in the first year.

The researchers at the Minnesota programme said they found similar results in a survey of 26 obese men.

But, they said, the small number of male participants made it difficult to draw conclusions from that data.

Health officials say there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in North America in the past two decades and 64 per cent of adults in Am-erica are considered to be overweight or obese.