Can Mindful Eating Habits Cut Diabetes, CVD Risk?

A study from University of California, San Francisco researchers finds that practicing mindful eating habits may improve glucose levels and heart health, and in turn reduce type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.

For their study, the UCSF team randomized roughly 200 adults with obesity to either a mindfulness intervention or an active attention group for 22 weeks, following up at 1 year. While both groups received the same diet and exercise guidelines, participants in the mindfulness intervention group were given additional training on mindfulness meditation and how to practice awareness of their thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations at the time they ate and exercised. At the 18-month mark of the intervention, those in the mindfulness group had lost an estimated 4.3% of body weight, on average. This total was 3.7 pounds more than the average of those in the control group, but was not enough to be statistically substantial, according to the authors.
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The authors did find, however, that taking part in the mindfulness program led to more positive effects on fasting blood glucose at 18 months as well as the ratio of trigylcerides to HDL-cholesterol levels at 12 months. Both of these factors, the investigators note, are linked to type 2 diabetes and CVD.

“One of the key challenges to advising patients about a healthy diet is preparing them to stay on a healthy diet,” says Frederick Hecht, MD, a professor of medicine at UCSF, the director of research at the school’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, and a co-author of the study.

“Making short-term diet change is easier than sustaining long-term change,” adds Hecht, noting that further research is needed to clarify the potential benefits of training in mindful eating when counseling patients about weight loss. “Our study suggests that training in mindful eating may be helpful in maintaining healthy eating practices.”

Participants in the study showed significant improvements in fasting glucose, he continues, noting that this finding suggests decreased risk of developing diabetes.

“Our findings in regard to weight loss and mindful eating training were equivocal, however, as we did not observe statistically significant differences in weight loss with the addition of training in mindful eating,” says Hecht. “Post-hoc analysis suggested that the effects of mindfulness training on weight loss may be sensitive to how the training is led.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference:

Daubenmier J, Moran P, et al. Effects of a mindfulness-based weight loss intervention in adults with obesity: A randomized clinical trial. Obesity. 2016. [epub ahead of print]. DOI: 10.1002/oby.21396.