Whitelock, V. orcid.org/0000-0001-8604-4490, Kersbergen, I. orcid.org/0000-0002-8799-8963, Higgs, S. et al. (3 more authors) (2019) A smartphone based attentive eating intervention for energy intake and weight loss: results from a randomised controlled trial. BMC Public Health, 19 (1). 611. ISSN 1471-2458
Abstract
Background Laboratory studies suggest that eating more ‘attentively’ (e.g. attending to food being eaten and recalling eating episodes) can reduce food intake among participants with both healthy weight and overweight. The aim of this trial was to assess whether a smartphone application that encourages a more attentive eating style reduces energy intake and promotes weight loss.
Methods In an open-label, single centre, parallel groups, individually randomised controlled trial, 107 adults with overweight/obesity in Merseyside, UK used an attentive eating smartphone application along with standard dietary advice (intervention group) or standard dietary advice only (control group) for 8 weeks. The primary outcomes were change in body weight at 8 weeks and energy intake at 4 and 8 weeks. Additional outcomes included self-reported eating behaviours measured at 8 weeks. Differences between groups were assessed with linear regression (adjusted) using multiple imputation for missing data. Study protocol registered prospectively at (https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/btzhw).
Results There was no significant difference between the intervention and control group in weight lost at 8 weeks, or change in self-reported 24 h or objective taste-test energy intake at 4 or 8 weeks. Mean weight loss in the intervention group (n = 53) was 1.2 kg and 1.1 kg in the control group (n = 54), adjusted difference of − 0.10 (− 1.6 to 1.3) kg. Self-reported eating behaviours at 8 weeks also did not differ across groups. The intervention was largely used as intended and a per protocol analysis confined to participants in the intervention group that used the attentive eating smartphone application regularly and as intended also showed no effect on energy intake or weight loss.
Conclusions A smartphone based attentive eating intervention and standard dietary advice did not result in reduced energy intake or greater weight loss at 4 or 8 week follow-up than standard dietary advice alone.
Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03602001. Registered retrospectively on 26th July 2018.
Prospectively registered on the Open Science Framework on 11th August 2017.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
Keywords: | Attentive eating; Weight loss; Smartphone application; Ehealth; Mhealth; Food intake; Obesity; Overweight; Focused attention |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 24 May 2019 13:51 |
Last Modified: | 24 May 2019 13:51 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | BMC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1186/s12889-019-6923-x |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:146547 |