Feasibility, safety, and efficacy of dietary or lifestyle interventions for hypothalamic obesity: A systematic review

Hypocaloric diet or restrictive macronutrient diet with lower percentage of carbohydrates seems feasible and effective for childhood HO, although most of the studies had a high risk of bias, small cohorts without control groups, and were conducted in children with PWS only, compromising the generalizability. Lifestyle interventions only resulted in BMI decrease in short-term, indicating that additional guidance is needed to sustain its effect in the long-term. Literature on feasibility and efficacy of a dietary or lifestyle intervention for hypothalamic overweight or obesity is scarce, especially in children with acquired HO (following treatment for a suprasellar tumor). There is need for prospective (controlled) studies to determine which dietary and lifestyle intervention are most helpful for this specific patient group.