Effectiveness of a Two-Year Multicomponent Intervention for the Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Older People

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 14; no. 22; p. 4762
• Main Authors: Rumbo-Rodríguez, Lorena, Zaragoza-Martí, Ana, Sánchez-SanSegundo, Miriam, Ferrer-Cascales, Rosario, Laguna-Pérez, Ana, Hurtado-Sánchez, Jose A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 11-11-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Aged; Aged patients; Body fat; Body mass; Body Mass Index; Body size; Body weight; Body weight loss; Diet therapy; Diet, Mediterranean; Drug therapy; Eating behavior; Education; Exercise; Humans; Intervention; Mediterranean diet; Mental depression; Obesity; Obesity - epidemiology; Older people; overweight; Overweight - therapy; Patient outcomes; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Physical fitness for the aged; Psychological factors; psychological well-being; Waist Circumference; Weight loss; Spain; Mediterranean region; older people; psychological well-being; Mediterranean diet; overweight; obesity
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu14224762

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a two-year intervention based on the Mediterranean diet for the treatment of overweight and obesity in a sample of 51 older people from the Mediterranean city of Alicante (Spain). We also examined the effects of the intervention on psychological well-being. The participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received group nutritional education sessions, an individualized dietary-nutritional treatment based on a Mediterranean diet, and a physical activity program; the control group received Mediterranean nutritional education in a written format. The experimental group showed a greater loss in weight (
= 0.017) and percentage of fat mass (
= 0.049), and a greater reduction in body mass index (BMI) (
= 0.014) and waist circumference (
= 0.010). Both groups improved their depression scores using the PHQ-9; however, no significant improvement was seen in adherence to the Mediterranean diet (PREDIMED) and anxiety level (GAD-7). These results suggest that a two-year intervention based on the Mediterranean diet allows an older population with overweight or obesity to achieve greater weight loss and a greater decrease in BMI, waist circumference, and fat mass percentage. In relation to psychological well-being, depression levels improved at the end of said intervention.