Attentive Eating for Weight Loss

University of Liverpool

Status: Completed

Conditions: Overweight and Obesity

Treatments: Behavioral: Standard dietary advice and text tips.; Behavioral: Attentive eating smartphone application.

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03602001

1905

ES/N00034X/1 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This trial examined whether a smartphone application designed to encourage a more attentive eating style could help people to lose weight, compared to a control group.

Full description

There is evidence that enhancing memory for recent eating and focusing attention on food being consumed influences later energy intake. Studies have shown that attending to food being eaten can reduce food intake. This has since been implemented into a smartphone based 'attentive eating' application. In a feasibility trial of this mobile phone application, adults with overweight or obesity were encouraged to eat attentively by photographing their meals and making satiety ratings after they had eaten. Participants were also required to review what else they had eaten that day before entering their next meal, with an overall aim of encouraging a more attentive eating style. Adherence data and qualitative interviews suggested that the mobile phone app was generally acceptable to participants and easy to use. Participants reported that they felt the application increased their awareness of what they had been eating. There was also an average weight loss of 1.5kg across the 4 week period that participants used the application for. Given that the previous feasibility trial included no control condition, the aim of the current trial was to examine initial proof of concept for effectiveness of an attentive eating smartphone weight loss application.

In the current study the investigators hypothesised that participants randomised to the attentive eating smartphone based condition (experimental condition) would lose significantly more weight than participants randomised to the control condition.

The study is a single centre, parallel, two arm, individually randomised 8 week controlled trial in adults with overweight and obesity in the Merseyside area of England.

Enrollment: 107 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• BMI ≥25.0 kg/m2
• Self-report would like to lose weight by changing their dietary behaviour
• 18-65 years
• Fluent English
• Own an Android/Apple smartphone

Exclusion criteria

• History of eating disorders or food allergies
• Medication that affects appetite
• Pregnant
• Scheduled for weight loss survey during the trial
• Currently on a structured weight loss programme (e.g. Weight Watchers)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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107 participants in 2 patient groups

attentive eating smartphone app group

Experimental group

Description:

Participant's received the intervention 'Attentive eating smartphone application'. This is a smartphone application that encourages a more attentive eating style. Participants also received the 'Standard dietary advice and text tips' intervention. This consists of a standard dietary advice booklet, and weekly dietary advice tips by text message.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Standard dietary advice and text tips.

Behavioral: Attentive eating smartphone application.

control group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants received the 'Standard dietary advice and text tips' intervention. This consists of a standard dietary advice booklet, and weekly dietary advice tips by text message.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Standard dietary advice and text tips.