A new local study suggests that big health benefits can be derived from a small amount of weight loss, CBSLocal reports.

The team of Washington University researchers, led by Dr. Sam Klein, found that a even a relatively small weight loss lowered the obese patients' risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

"You get the biggest bang for your buck with a five percent weight loss," Klein said

"When you loose five percent of your body weight, in people who are obese but do not have type-two diabetes, you improve metabolic function in multiple organ systems simultaneously."

For the study, the researchers looked at 40 obese people who lost 5 percent, 10 percent and 15 percent of their weight.

The study, published Feb. 22 in the journal Cell Metabolism, found that 5 percent weight loss was enough to reduce multiple risk factors for type 2 diabetes and heart disease, as reported by webMD

Klein said that this study suggested that obese people should be advised that even a little bit of weight loss would make them healthier individuals.

"Based on these findings, we should reconsider changing current obesity practice guidelines to stress a target goal of 5 percent weight loss, rather than 5 percent to 10 percent weight loss, which increases the perception of failure when patients do not achieve weight losses that are greater than 5 percent," Klein said, according to WebMD.

 He added that a small amount of weight loss was much more achievable than a large amount.

"So, if you weigh 200 pounds...if you can loose 10 pounds of your body weight and keep it off, you really will be doing yourself a major favor in terms of your health." Klein says.