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Does Monitoring Your Hunger Via Blood Glucose Help You Eat To Appetite And Lose Weight?
Author(s) -
Jospe Michelle R,
Taylor Rachael W,
Athens Josie,
Roy Melyssa,
Brown Rachel C
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.643.1
Subject(s) - weight loss , overweight , medicine , appetite , obesity , intervention (counseling) , gerontology , physical therapy , clinical psychology , psychiatry
Background “Hunger training” aims to teach people to eat according to their appetite rather than in response to their environment or emotions. As many overweight adults have a blunted sense of hunger and satiety, blood glucose measurement provides an objective indicator of hunger and a guide for when one should eat. While hunger training has been shown to be feasible in the short term, little research has examined the effect of adherence to hunger training on weight loss and eating behavior. We aimed to i) identify which measures of adherence are most important for predicting weight loss with hunger training, and ii) examine how adherence to hunger training over six months affected weight and eating behavior. Methods This was an exploratory, secondary analysis from a weight loss intervention where 50 overweight or obese adults were randomized to hunger training. Five indices of adherence were chosen a priori to examine which best predicted weight loss with hunger training. The most predictive adherence measure was then used to examine the effect of different levels of adherence on weight and eating behaviors. Results 36 participants remained in the study at 6 months. Frequency of booklet entry was the most predictive adherence measure associated with weight loss. The 15/36 participants who completed more than 60 days (out of a recommended 63 days) lost 6.3 percentage points (95% CI 3.1, 9.5; p<0.001) more weight than those who filled in less. There was no significant difference in weight loss between participants who completed 0–30 days (n=13) and those who completed 31–60 days (n=5) (p=0.115). Participants who completed more than 60 days had an increase in intuitive eating score (p=0.042), and a decrease in both emotional eating (p<0.001) and external eating (p=0.029), compared to those who completed 30 days or less. Conclusion Hunger training can teach people to eat according to their physical hunger and yields clinically significant weight loss and improvements in eating behavior in those who can sufficiently adhere to this novel method. Support or Funding Information University of Otago Research Grant