A Structured Literature Review on the Role of Mindfulness Intervention in Weight Control

Yu Jin Paek; Jeung Ok; Eon Sook Lee

doi:10.15384/kjhp.2019.19.4.186

Korean J Health Promot > Volume 19(4); 2019 > Article

Paek, Ok, and Lee: A Structured Literature Review on the Role of Mindfulness Intervention in Weight Control

Review Article

Korean Journal of Health Promotion 2019;19(4):186-195.

Published online: December 31, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15384/kjhp.2019.19.4.186

A Structured Literature Review on the Role of Mindfulness Intervention in Weight Control

Yu Jin Paek¹

, Jeung Ok²

, Eon Sook Lee³

¹Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanllym University, Anyang, Korea.

²Department of Professional Psychotherapy, Seoul Cyber University, Seoul, Korea.

³Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Inje University, Goyang, Korea.

Corresponding author: Eon Sook Lee, MD, PhD. Department of Family Medicine, Inje University Ilsan-Paik Hospital, 170 Juhwa-ro, Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang 10380, Korea.
Tel: +82-31-910-7115, Fax: +82-31-910-7024, leejeny@paik.ac.kr

Received November 29, 2019 Revised December 18, 2019 Accepted December 20, 2019

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Mindfulness training is growing in popularity as an adjunctive intervention in disordered eating and weight loss. Lifestyle modification, pharmacologic treatment, and surgical intervention have been widely used for weight reduction in obese persons, but these modifications are sometimes insufficient. In particular, stress-induced eating and binge-eating disorder have been frequently associated with increased risk of regaining weight. Initial research suggests that mindfulness training may be an effective intervention for binge eating. In this article, we reviewed 19 studies that investigated mindfulness training as an intervention for weight change and/or emotional eating. Results suggest that mindfulness training effectively decreases emotional eating in persons with good adherence to the training; evidence for its effect on weight reduction, however, is mixed. Further large-scale studies are warranted to explore the effectiveness of mindfulness training on long-term weight loss and emotional eating in persons with obesity.

Keywords: Obesity, Overweight, Cognitive behavioral therapy, Mindfulness, Emotional, Weight reduction program

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Figure 1

Flow chart for article selection. KISS, Korean Studies Information service System; KMBASE, Korean Medical Database; RISS, Research Information Sharing Service.

Table 1

Description and characteristics of included studies

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; CAR, cortisol awakening response; CBT, cognitive-behavioral intervention group; CTL, control group; DM, diabetes mellitus; HgA1c, hemoglobin A1c; MI, mindfulness intervention group; NA, not applicable; NS, non-significant; SBWP, standard behavioral weight loss programs; SD, standard deviation.

^aP<0.05.

^bP<0.01.