Effect of web-based lifestyle modification on weight control: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: Web-based treatment programs are attractive in primary care because of their ability to reach numerous individuals at low cost. Our aim of this meta-analysis is to systematically review the weight loss or maintenance effect of the Internet component in obesity treatment programs. Methods: MEDLINE and EMBASE literature searches were conducted to identify studies investigating the effect of Web-based individualized advice on lifestyle modification on weight loss. Randomized controlled trials that consisted of a Web-user experimental and non-Web user control group were included. Weight changes in the experimental group in comparison with the control group were pooled with a random-effects model. Results: A total of 23 studies comprising 8697 participants were included. Overall, using the Internet had a modest but significant additional weight-loss effect compared with non-Web user control groups (À0.68 kg, P ¼ 0.03). In comparison with the control group, stratified analysis indicated that using the Internet as an adjunct to obesity care was effective (À1.00 kg, Po0.001), but that using it as a substitute for face-to-face support was unfavorable ( þ 1.27 kg, P ¼ 0.01). An additional effect on weight control was observed when the aim of using the Internet was initial weight loss (À1.01 kg; P ¼ 0.03), but was not observed when the aim was weight maintenance ( þ 0.68 kg; P ¼ 0.26). The relative effect was diminished with longer educational periods (P-trend ¼ 0.04) and was insignificant (À0.20 kg; P ¼ 0.75) in studies with educational periods of 12 months or more. Conclusion: The current meta-analysis indicates that the Internet component in obesity treatment programs has a modest effect on weight control. However, the effect was inconsistent, largely depending on the type of usage of the Internet or the period of its use.

Design and baseline characteristics of the Food4Me study: a web-based randomised controlled trial of personalised nutrition in seven European countries

“…Higher proportions of those interested in taking part in the Food4Me study [63.0 % (n = 3,503) of the screened volunteers] and of the randomised participants [60.9 % (n = 979)] were female. These results confirm findings from previous web-based nutritional interventions (Kodama et al 2012), and from conventional dietary intervention studies (French et al 1994;Hearty et al 2007;Sabinsky et al 2007), showing that females are more likely to volunteer for nutritionrelated research studies. Our study recruited participants from every decade of adult life, from teens to seventies: 1.7 % of randomised participants were aged \20 years, 28.3 % aged 20-29 years, 22.4 % aged 30-39 years, 21.4 % aged 40-49 years, 18.8 % aged 50-59 years, 6.7 % aged 60-69 years and 0.6 % aged [70 years.…”

Digital and social media opportunities for dietary behaviour change

“…A Cochrane meta-analysis of weight loss/maintenance trials by Weiland et al (41) revealed that webbased interventions resulted in greater weight loss when compared with control conditions but significantly less weight loss compared with face-to-face interventions. This is similar to findings from four other meta-analyses (41)(42)(43)(44) . Reed et al (42) conducted a meta-analysis of eleven randomised controlled trials and reported additional weight loss when web-based interventions were used to supplement face-to-face interventions; however, substituting face-toface interventions with web-based interventions resulted in significantly less weight loss.…”

Baseline characteristics of the Food4Me Proof of Principle Study: a web-based randomised controlled trial of personalised nutrition in seven European countries

“…31% (n = 499) participants were at least moderately active at work and 67·8% (n = 1,091) were at least moderately active during leisure time respectively. Furthermore, 12·1% (n = 195) were current smokers.The present results confirm that women are more likely to volunteer to participate in nutrition-related studies including those delivered via the web (1) . Our results show that those interested in PN are broadly representative of the adult population and are not skewed towards either already very healthy people (the "worried well") or those wishing to lose weight.…”