Why the study?
Obesity causes substantial cardiovascular and mental health morbidity, with women showing increased risk for mental health disorders related to stress that could be targeted by non-pharmacological interventions.
Does the addition of biofeedback and psychological intervention to caloric restriction improve BMI and psychological wellbeing in healthy overweight women?
Does the addition of biofeedback and psychological intervention to caloric restriction improve BMI and psychological wellbeing in healthy overweight women?
Adding biofeedback to short-term caloric restriction enhances BMI reduction and may protect against mental health and cardiovascular disorders in overweight women.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support adjunctive psychological intervention with caloric restriction in obese women; leaves open efficacy in larger randomized trials.
Obesity is highly prevalent, causing substantial cardiovascular and mental health morbidity. Women show increased risk for mental health disorders, that is multiplied in obesity and related to cellular and psychological stress that can be targeted by non-pharmacological interventions. A total of 43 women underwent two weeks of caloric restriction, half of which also received 7 h of individualized clinical psychological intervention including psychoeducation, mindfulness, and heart-rate-variability biofeedback. Effects on body mass index (BMI), fatty liver index (FLI), bioimpedance measures, serum parameters, perceived stress (PSS), burn-out susceptibility (burn out diagnostic inventory) and dimensional psychiatric symptom load (brief symptom inventory, BSI) were analyzed with linear mixed effects models. Caloric restriction led to a reduction in BMI, body fat and FLI, decreased serum concentrations of leptin, PSS score, BSI dimensions and global severity index (all p ≤ 0.0001, withstanding Bonferroni–Holm correction). Benefits of add-on biofeedback were observed for BMI reduction (p = 0.041). Caloric restriction was effective in ameliorating both psychological wellbeing and metabolic functions following a BMI reduction. Biofeedback boosted effects on BMI reduction and the combinative therapy may be protective against common progression to mental health and cardiovascular disorders in overweight women while comparing favorably to pharmacological interventions in terms of side-effects and acceptability.
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Kautzky et al. (2021) studied this question.
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