NCT06280339

Food Cravings Strategies During Dietary Weight Loss

Comparison of Coping Strategies to Reduce Food Cravings During Dietary Weight Loss

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 100 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 75 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose is to optimize the EMPOWER program by integrating strategies to reduce food cravings, a critical yet often overlooked factor for long-term success in weight management. The objective of this study is to determine the efficacy of craving coping strategies on weight loss outcomes by conducting a randomized controlled trial. Participants will be randomized to receive one of the two strategies to manage food cravings.

Detailed description

Obesity is a major contributor to developing chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, and 41.9% of adults were obese in 2020 in the United States. Although weight loss can reduce or remit these comorbidities , it is challenging for most individuals with obesity to achieve clinically significant weight loss and sustain healthy weight through dietary/lifestyle modifications. Achieving sustainable weight loss must be accompanied by dietary/lifestyle modifications that can be sustained comfortably for a lifetime. Currently, there is no dietary weight loss program that can reliably induce sustainable weight loss. To address this deficiency, our lab has been developing a novel dietary weight loss program that can achieve a lifetime healthy weight. In our three weight loss trials, we observed that the reduction of food cravings is associated with successful weight loss and subsequent weight maintenance. Food cravings have been suggested to predict food intake and weight gain, lack of success in weight loss, and early drop-out from weight management programs, supporting our observation. Food cravings are defined as strong or intense desires for a particular type of food and have been reported to occur in approximately 58% of adults. Individuals with overweight or obesity report more frequent and intense cravings for energy-dense food, such as high-fat and sweet foods, relative to normal-weight people. Specific food craving coping strategies are developed to reduce the frequency and intensity of cravings to minimize the risk of excessive food intake. These strategies involve cognitive-behavioral principles, including controlled-based strategies such as avoidance, resistance, and inclusion. The avoidance strategy uses behavior-oriented techniques to modify the immediate environment, teaching individuals to encourage healthy eating and avoid unhealthy eating by controlling the stimuli that trigger their behaviors. The resistance strategies focus on cognitive regulation and enhancing self-regulatory control, which teaches individuals how to cognitively restructure urges related to craved food and mentally distract themselves from cravings. The inclusion strategies focus on self-regulation and planning and aim to satisfy food cravings by strategically incorporating craved foods into balanced meals. Despite the existence of coping strategies, very few studies evaluate the efficacy of these strategies during weight loss trials. Thus, we evaluated the relationship between weight loss outcomes and the degree of cravings using intra-cohort analysis in our two weight loss trials. Our preliminary findings suggested that effective management of food cravings appears to be a key to successful weight loss and weight maintenance. Study 1 found that better control over food cravings during weight loss and maintenance was associated with long-term success in weight loss outcomes. Study 2 demonstrated that participants who achieved clinically significant or greater weight loss (5% weight loss) had significantly lower food cravings. Building on the findings from our preliminary studies, a specific aim of this research proposal is to determine the efficacy of craving coping strategies (and a combination of strategies) on weight loss outcomes by conducting a randomized controlled trial.

Conditions

• Obesity
• Food Cravings
• Weight Loss

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Test two food cravings strategies during dietary weight loss	The intervention includes 12 online nutrition education sessions using the MealPlot App to track food intake and view the daily weight charts. Participants need to weigh themselves daily using a Wi-Fi scale. Participants will complete 12 asynchronous online diet improvement sessions (eText) lasting 45 minutes each. The 12 sessions will be conducted weekly for the intervention period (12 weeks). The following four sessions will be focused on creating consistent eating and sleeping patterns related to timing, frequency, and portion, as well as daily self-monitoring of weight. After that, participants will continue to complete the rest of asynchronous online diet improvement sessions, including personalized weight loss diets from their kitchen based on their diet practice and food preference, safe and efficient weight loss, weight maintenance and healthy eating, skills to select foods and create meals that prevent overeating, all to be completed by the end of 12 weeks.
BEHAVIORAL	Dietary weight loss program +Food cravings strategies	The intervention includes 12 online nutrition education sessions using the MealPlot App to track food intake and view the daily weight charts. Participants need to weigh themselves daily using a Wi-Fi scale. Participants will complete 12 asynchronous online diet improvement sessions (eText) lasting 45 minutes each. The 12 sessions will be conducted weekly for the intervention period (12 weeks). The following four sessions will be focused on creating consistent eating and sleeping patterns related to timing, frequency, and portion, as well as daily self-monitoring of weight. After that, participants will continue to complete the rest of asynchronous online diet improvement sessions, including personalized weight loss diets from their kitchen based on their diet practice and food preference, safe and efficient weight loss, weight maintenance and healthy eating, skills to select foods and create meals that prevent overeating, all to be completed by the end of 12 weeks.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-01-29
• Primary completion: 2024-06-01
• Completion: 2024-08-01
• First posted: 2024-02-28
• Last updated: 2024-02-28

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: United States