Effects of the EatWelLog App on Diet Management for Older Adults With Sarcopenic Obesity

Summary

Sarcopenic obesity, characterised by concurrent reduced muscle mass and excess body fat, affects 11% of older adults worldwide, rising to 23% in those over 75. Considering the negative synergistic impact on health, promoting muscle mass gains while reducing fat mass remains a significant challenge, necessitating urgent and effective intervention strategies for managing SO. Exercise and nutrition are the primary interventions recommended for SO.

This project aims to evaluate the effects of the EatWellLog App developed by the investigators' team for local older adults, in improving:

* their sarcopenic obesity status, measured by all four diagnostic criteria, including grip strength, muscle mass, physical performance and body fat mass (primary outcome), and,
* nutritional self-efficacy, nutritional status, dietary quality, health-related quality of life, and adherence to diet and exercise regimens (secondary outcomes), by enhancing the self-management abilities and longer-term adherence to daily diet management among participants in the M-health group using the App, compared to the control group.

The EatWellLog App, designed for older adults with SO, incorporating Klasnja and Pratt's five-strategy framework for mobile health (mHealth) applications development to facilitate health behavioural change. This App supports users with SO in managing daily diets that promote gradual weight loss and muscle mass preservation, adhering to the dietary regimen for this population.

Forty older adults with SO will be recruited from local community health centres and then randomized to either m-health or control groups. Both groups will receive an 8-week supervised programme separately. The programme consists of personalised dietary modification programme and group-based exercise training which have been tested and used in the investigators' pilot and General Research Fund (GRF) project. Additionally, only the m-health group will be instructed to use the App for daily diet self-management.

Participants will be assessed on a variety of outcomes immediately after the 8-week supervised programme (T1), which will be compared to the baseline (T0). To explore the possible long-term effects of the intervention, other measurements will be conducted at 3-(T2) and 6-(T3) months after the supervised programme, which will be compared with those conducted at T0.

Conditions

• Sarcopenic Obesity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Dietary modification program

Participants will receive an 8-week program consisting of personalized dietary modification program. The dietary modification program is composed of a total of 8 personalized, one-hour face-to-face sessions. Participants will be encouraged to take on a moderate hypocaloric plan that cuts daily energy expenditure to encourage steady weight loss while preserving muscle mass. A protein intake of 1.5 g/kg of body weight per day is recommended. To optimize protein uptake, it's suggested that protein be distributed evenly across meals, aiming for 25-30 g per meal, inclusive of 2.5-2.8 g of leucine. Participants will also receive a guidebook, crafted through the Delphi method, to facilitate the adoption of these dietary modifications in their daily routines.

BEHAVIORAL

Exercise training

Participants will receive an 8-week program consisting of exercise training. It entails weekly group sessions, with each lasting an hour for 8 weeks. These sessions, designed for groups of approximately 10, will blend resistance and aerobic workouts to enhance muscle mass and strength while reducing fat in individuals with SO. Each session includes a 10-minute warm-up and cool-down, 20 minutes of resistance training using elastic bands, followed by a 20-minute brisk walking segment. Participants will also receive a YouTube link and a pamphlet describing the exercises, encouraging them to maintain at least 30 minutes of exercise five times a week during and beyond the supervised programme.

BEHAVIORAL

The EatWellLog App

Only participants in the M-health group will be instructed to use the EatWellLog app for daily diet self-management. This App supports participants with SO by providing a structured approach to managing a diet that encourages steady weight loss while maintaining muscle mass, in line with current nutritional recommendations for this demographic. The EatWellLog App has the following features: i) tracking participants' dietary habits by logging meals and snacks from a food list, ii) personalized online coaching and reminders by a multidisciplinary healthcare team, iii) participation of family caregivers through an interactive messaging function, iv) accessing health information via multiple channels, including animations, an at-a-glance display, and a reminder, and v) utilization of game elements, such as educational animations and video games to disseminate health and nutritional information related to SO.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Justina Liu, PhD · The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-04-08

Primary Completion

2025-09-30

Completion

2025-10-31

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations