Mobile Apps May Help Boost Weight Loss

Telephone coaching and use of a personal digital assistant (PDA), in combination with a doctor-directed weight loss program, can boost short-term weight loss, suggested a report published online in Archives of Internal Medicine.

The background information states:

"Little is known about whether the outcome of physician-directed weight loss treatment can be improved by adding mobile technology. Self-monitoring of diet and physical activity is associated with weight loss success and can be performed conveniently using handheld devices."

A year long study consisting of 69 adults was conducted from October 2007 through September 2010 by Bonnie Spring, Ph.D., with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago and her team of researchers.

Subjects were randomly assigned to a standard care only treatment group (standard group) or to a standard treatment using mobile technology group (mobile group). Both groups went to biweekly weight loss groups hosted by Veterans Affairs outpatient clinics.

The mobile group used a personal digital assistant (PDA) to self-monitor physical activity and diet, as well as coaching calls, for six months. Weight was calculated when groups were assigned and at 3, 6, 9, and 12 month follow-ups.

Patients in the mobile group on average lost 3.9 kg (8.6 pounds) more than the control group every time they weighed in. The researchers discovered no evidence that this differed across time. More notably, weight loss among the mobile group was larger than weight loss in the control group at all of their follow-ups.

Over 36 percent of subjects in the mobile group lost nearly 5 percent of their original body weight at three months, in contrast to 0 percent in the standard group, and this outcome did not differ significantly across time.

The authors conclude:

"In sum, this study highlights the promise of a mobile technology system as a scalable, cost-effective means to augment the effectiveness of physician-directed weight loss treatment. Technology offers new channels to reconfigure the provision of effective components of behavioral weight loss treatment (i.e., self-monitoring, goal setting, lifestyle counseling and in-person sessions)."

An existing healthy system of care, in combination with telephone coaching and a personal digital assistant, can boost weight loss further. Mobile technology can successfully magnify the effects of doctor-directed weight loss programs.

Written by Kelly Fitzgerald

1. Prev:Lifestyle Intervention Programs - Reduce Risk Of Diabetes
2. Next:Low Fat Diet Leads To Weight Loss And Lower BMI