Effect of Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay Plus Forest Bathing

Summary

This proposed study will be the first to investigate the effect of the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) Plus Forest Bathing (FB) on blood pressure (BP) and cognitive health for those who are aged 50 and above with hypertension. Hypertension is a major public health issue, and four developments make this research study remarkably important.

It is well-documented the Mediterranean diet and Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet have demonstrated efficacy for improving cardiovascular and cognitive health. The Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet is a hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH diets. FB promotes relaxation by inducing the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, which decrease Heart rate and BP. The initial quantitative phase of the study, a three-arm RCT will be conducted to examine the effects of MIND, MIND plus FB and usual care as control on hypertension. The subsequent qualitative phase in-depth focus group interview is to explore the barriers and facilitators of MIND diet uptake and FB. The participants will include older HK Chinese adults who meet the criteria for hypertension stage 1 and stage 2 of the AHA. The primary outcomes are systolic BP and the secondary outcomes are point of care test of lipid panel, cognitive function, waist-to-hip ratio, body fat percentages and body mass index. The outcome measurements will be recorded before the interventions (T0), immediately after the 4-week face-to-face intervention (T1) and 12-week after 3-month intervention (T2). A total of 48 those who are aged 50 and above with hypertension will be recruited from community centres in Hong Kong to Randomized Controlled Trial and 10 participants differing in levels of compliance to MIND and FB will be purposively selected for face-to-face semi-structured focus group interviews.

Conditions

• High Blood Pressure

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

MIND diet

MIND diet intervention will be a 3-month nutrition programme consisting of 4 face-to-face nutrition counselling sessions (one session per week, 60 min per session) in the activity room of each participating community centre. All intervention sessions will be conducted by a registered nutritionist and trained student helpers. In the nutrition sessions, the participants will learn to modify their diet to meet MIND diet guidelines.

BEHAVIORAL

Mind diet plus Forest Bathing

MIND diet intervention will be a 3-month nutrition programme consisting of 4 face-to-face nutrition counselling sessions (one session per week, 60 min per session) in the activity room of each participating community centre. All intervention sessions will be conducted by a registered nutritionist and trained student helpers. In the nutrition sessions, the participants will learn to modify their diet to meet MIND diet guidelines. Forest Bathing will be another session per week, 2 hours forest bathing sessions on 4-consecutive weekends in a country park at daytime with sunny, cloudy or drizzling conditions. The walking distance for each forest bathing is one to two kilometres. The coach-to-participant ratio is approximately 1:16. Participants will then be required to self-practice 2h FB in the country park at daytime at the weekends of 8th week and 12th week of the intervention.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hong Kong Metropolitan University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-01-03

Primary Completion

2022-07-30

Completion

2023-03-31

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations