RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Obesity in the United States is highly prevalent, approaching 60% for black women. We investigated whether nutrition education sessions at the work place added to internet-based wellness information and exercise resources would facilitate weight and fat mass loss in a racially diverse population of overweight female employees. METHODS: A total of 199 (average body mass index 33.9±6.3 kg m(-2)) nondiabetic women (57% black) at our institution were randomized to a 6-month program of either internet-based wellness information (WI) combined with dietitian-led nutrition education group sessions (GS) weekly for 3 months and then monthly with shift in emphasis to weight loss maintenance (n=99) or to WI alone (n=100). All were given access to exercise rooms convenient to their work site. Fat mass was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. RESULTS: WI+GS subjects lost more weight than WI subjects at 3 months (-2.2±2.8 vs -1.0±3.0 kg, P>0.001). Weight (-2.7±3.9 vs -2.0±3.9 kg) and fat mass (-2.2±3.1 vs -1.7±3.7 kg) loss at 6 months was significant for WI+GS and WI groups (both P<0.001), but without significant difference between groups (both P>0.10); 27% of the WI+GS group achieved î¶5% loss of initial weight as did 18% of the WI group (P=0.180). Blacks and whites similarly completed the study (67 vs 74%, P=0.303), lost weight (-1.8±3.4 vs -3.3±5.2 kg, P=0.255) and fat mass (-1.6±2.7 vs -2.5±4.3 kg, P=0.532), and achieved î¶5% loss of initial weight (21 vs 32%, P=0.189), irrespective of group assignment. CONCLUSION: Overweight women provided with internet-based wellness information and exercise resources at the work site lost weight and fat mass, with similar achievement by black and white women. Additional weight loss benefit of nutrition education sessions, apparent at 3 months, was lost by 6 months and may require special emphasis on subjects who fail to achieve weight loss goals to show continued value.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The Tissue Monitoring System (TMS) is an algorithm that estimates changes in body tissue from a series of daily weight measures. It is intended to provide people with a feedback of changes in their tissue weight so they may have a basis for estimating how much they would have to change their intake or expenditure to maintain their weight at a prescribed level. We tested the effectiveness of the TMS to prevent freshmen from gaining weight during their first semester in college. METHODS: In two similar but independent studies (Fall 2002, 2003), female freshmen college students were given analog bathroom scales and instructed to weigh themselves each morning immediately after rising from bed, then e-mail their weight to our staff. After 7 days, a linear function was performed on the most recent 7 days of the weight-day function for each participant. In the first study, the slope of this function was e-mailed back to the participants. In the second study, the difference between last point and the original weight was determined, using linear regression techniques, converted to calories, and the information was e-mailed back to the participants. Control participants in both studies were weighed at the beginning and the end of the semester. RESULTS: The untreated controls gained 3.1+/-0.51 kg and 2.0+/-0.65 kg, respectively (P<0.01 for both studies), whereas weight gain of the experimental groups was 0.1+/-0.99 kg and -0.82+/-0.56 kg, values that were not significantly different than zero. CONCLUSIONS: The TMS appears to be an effective technique to help female college freshmen resist gaining weight in an environment that is conducive to weight gain. These results suggest that the TMS may be a useful method to help curb the slow increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity that is characteristic of all industrialized societies.
