The study has several limitations. The study was observational, meaning it could only show an association and not a cause-and-effect relationship. In addition, the study relied on self-reports, which could be inaccurate and included only older women. Since sudden cardiac death occurred relatively infrequently, the cases that did occur could have resulted from chance.
“More research is needed before any recommendations can be made for clinical care regarding the risks of weight cycling, since these results apply only to postmenopausal women and not to younger-aged women or men,” Rasla said.