The effectiveness of mindfulness-based intervention on body mass index among adolescent: a systematic review.

Abstract

Background: globally, the prevalence of obesity among adolescents is drastically increasing. Standard lifestyle modification has illustrated to be ineffective among adolescents. Mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) has gained increasing popularity and could be a potential adjuvant therapy for long-term weight loss and maintenance. MBI may provide adolescents at high risk of adult obesity with more efficient methods of self-regulation, which could potentially be an effective strategy for weight regulation in developmentally critical period. However, it is still unclear if MBI is effective in mitigating excess weight gain among this population. Purpose: to assess the effectiveness of the mindfulness-based approach in reducing body mass index (BMI/BMIz) in adolescents at high risk for excess weight gain in adulthood. Study selection: randomised controlled trials (RCT) published in English and in peer-reviewed journals were identified through a systematic search of four electronic databases. We included studies from the first available date to 29 June 2020. Results: a total of eight RCTs, with a total sample size of 262 participants, were included. Two RCTs illustrated a significant reduction in BMI/BMI z-score in the intervention group relative to controls. One study demonstrated a significant decrease in BMI/BMIz from the baseline, however no significant difference from the control group. Four trials concluded that MBI was ineffective in decreasing BMI/BMIz. Conclusion: this area of research is scarce. Thus, the quality and quantity of the included trials were limited and inadequate to draw a firm conclusion. It remains unknown whether mindfulness-based interventions have an impact on BMI/BMIz in adolescents with obesity or at a high risk of devolving obesity in adulthood. High-quality RCTs are required to enhance the homogeneity of the studies and to yield a more robust conclusion. Future studies should explore the effectiveness of long-term mindfulness-based interventions on body fat percentage, BMI change, eating behaviours and physical activity.