Tailored online programmes that use self-reported dietary information to calculate a reduced fat diet are ineffective, Dutch researchers said today.
Investigators from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Maastricht University, and Erasmus University in the Netherlands assessed 442 healthy Dutch adults to establish the accuracy of computer-tailored intervention aimed at reducing fat intake.
Instead of just looking at self-reported dietary recalls to evaluate dietary fat intake, the researchers evaluated blood lipids (total, HDL, and LDL cholesterol and triglycerides). The computer-based programme aimed at reducing saturated fat intake had no effect on the blood values.
Drs Willemieke Kroeze and Johannes Brug, assistant professor and professor respectively, at the Vrije Universiteit, said: "Computer- tailored intervention with a single dose, aimed at reduction of (saturated) fat intake, for which meaningful effects based on self-reports have been reported, was not sufficient to produce detectable changes in blood lipids in the current study."
The results are published in the September/October 2011 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
<!The study reveals the importance of critical evaluation of nutrition education efforts because interventions are often developed online as a cost-saving measure and to increase the programme’s reach.>
Dr Kroeze said the intervention needed social interaction. He called for strategies to improve the intensity and duration of computer-tailored interventions.
A second study reported today, in The Lancet, says that a commercial weight loss programme is effective.
The study in Britain, Australia and Germany tested the benefits of a free year-long subscription to Weight Watchers.
Researchers from the Medical Research Council in Cambridge, UK, found participants lost twice as much weight as obese patients who received "standard care" in GP surgeries.
"Biomarker Evaluation Does Not Confirm Efficacy of Computer-tailored Nutrition Education" by Willemieke Kroeze, PhD; Pieter C. Dagnelie, PhD; Martijn W. Heymans, PhD; Anke Oenema, PhD; Johannes Brug, PhD. It appears in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 43, Issue 3 (September/October 2011) published by Elsevier.
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