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 The trial in the UK recruited participants in November and December
of 2016 and 2017, and followed up with them about 45 days later.
Those assigned to the weight-gain prevention program ended up losing
0.13 kg (about one third of a pound), on average, while the control
group gained 0.37 kg (nearly a pound), the study team reported
December 10 online in The BMJ.
"On Christmas Day alone, someone might consume 6,000 calories, or
three times the recommended daily allowance," said a coauthor of the
study, Amanda Farley of the University of Birmingham.
"We were unsure how well the public would respond to the idea of
controlling their food and drink over Christmas," Farley told
Reuters Health by email. "But we found that participants were very
motivated."
Past research has found that holiday periods are often when people
put on extra pounds, but they don't tend to lose that weight after
the holidays are over. Since even a holiday weight gain of just a
pound or two each year will add up over a decade, the study team
wanted to explore tactics to help prevent putting on weight in the
first place.
They recruited 272 adults who were told only that they would
participate in a study of winter weight gain. About half were
randomly assigned to receive a general brochure on healthy living.
The other half got advice to weigh themselves frequently, ideally
every day, record their weight, and "reflect on weight trajectory."
They also got 10 tips for weight management, as well as a graphical
list of holiday foods showing the amount of exercise that would be
required to offset the calorie content of each - for instance,
expending the calories in a mince pie requires 21 minutes of
running, and a small glass of mulled wine requires 32 minutes of
walking.
The 10 tips for weight management included sticking to a regular
meal routine, choosing reduced fat options, walking 10,000 steps
daily, opting for healthy snacks, reading food labels, thinking
twice about large portions and seconds, breaking up sitting time,
reducing alcoholic and sweet drinks, slowing down while eating and
aiming to include five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
About 80 percent of the participants were women, roughly one third
in the normal weight range, more than one third overweight, and the
rest obese.
The researchers' goal was for participants to gain no more than half
a kilo, or about one pound, over the holiday period.
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Instead, the research team found that the intervention group, on
average, lost a little weight while the control group gained a bit.
The difference in weight gain between the groups was 0.49 kg, a
little over one pound, a statistically meaningful amount, the study
team concludes.
Based on questionnaire responses at the follow-up, people in the
intervention group also scored higher for practicing "cognitive
restraint." However, there were no significant differences between
the groups in changes in body fat percentage, emotional eating or
uncontrolled eating.
"Many people gain weight over Christmas, but that is not
inevitable," Farley said. "It is possible to demonstrate some
restraint of eating and drinking and build in simple ways to be
active while still enjoying the festive season."
Few randomized controlled trials have studied effective programs to
combat the year-end bloat, noted Dale Schoeller of the University of
Wisconsin in Madison, who wasn't involved in the study.
Although this study showed a change, it's hard to say which aspect
was effective, Schoeller said.
"It would be interesting to take this program apart and try to
understand what changes led to the prevention of weight gain," he
said in a phone interview. "Did restraint with food or alcohol, or
compensating with exercise, make the difference, or was it a
combination?"
In this study, the majority of participants were white women in
their 40s. Future studies should include different communities and
could tailor the tips to appeal to different audiences and
countries, said Rolando Giovanni Diaz Zavala of the University of
Sonora in Hermosillo, Mexico, who also wasn't involved in the
research.
"Once people are overweight, there are metabolic and neuroendocrine
changes (possibly irreversible) that fight to regain weight lost,"
he said in an email. "Preventing weight gain seems to be the
smartest strategy."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2zUibjE
BMJ 2018.
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