Testing a mobile mindful eating intervention targeting craving-related eating: feasibility and proof of concept

Intro:

This study showed that Eat Right Now reduces craving related eating by 40%. It is the first to show that an app-based mindfulness training can decouple craving and eating (and reduce eating in response to negative emotions by 36%). Link to press release summary. Learn more about how habit loops drive everyday addictions and the science behind habit change strategies. Explore Dr. Jud’s guided mindfulness exercises for practical tools based on this research.  

Abstract

Theoretically driven smartphone-delivered behavioral interventions that target mechanisms underlying eating behavior are lacking. In this study, we administered a 28-day self-paced smartphone-delivered intervention rooted in an operant conditioning theoretical framework that targets craving-related eating using mindful eating practices. At pre-intervention and 1-month post-intervention, we assessed food cravings among adult overweight or obese women (N=104; M age=46.2±14.1 years; M BMI=31.5±4.5) using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) via text message (SMS), self-reported eating behavior (e.g., trait food craving), and in-person weight. Seventy-eight participants (75.0%) completed the intervention within 7 months (‘all completers’), and of these, 64 completed the intervention within 3 months (‘timely completers’). Participants experienced significant reductions in craving-related eating (40.21% reduction; p<.001) and self-reported overeating behavior (trait food craving, p<.001; other measures ps<.01). Reductions in trait food craving were significantly correlated with weight loss for timely completers (r=.30, p=.020), this pattern of results was also evident in all completers (r=.22, p=.065). Taken together, results suggest that smartphone-delivered mindful eating training targeting craving-related eating may (1) target behavior that impacts a relative metabolic pathway, and (2) represent a low-burden and highly disseminable method to reduce problematic overeating among overweight individuals.  

Reference

Mason, A. E., Jhaveri, K., Cohn, M., Brewer, J. A., (2018), Journal of Behavioral Medicine 41(2): 160-73.   View all of Dr. Jud’s research on Google Scholar.

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About This Research

This feasibility study was the first to demonstrate that an app-based mindfulness program could decouple food cravings from eating behavior. Participants using Eat Right Now experienced a 40% reduction in craving-related eating and a 36% reduction in eating triggered by negative emotions, providing proof of concept that brief, mobile-delivered mindful eating interventions can meaningfully shift habitual eating patterns.

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01550 | PubMed: 30271361