A multi-level, multi-component obesity intervention (Obesity Prevention and Evaluation of InterVention Effectiveness in NaTive North Americans) decreases soda intake in Native American adults

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a multi-level, multi-component (MLMC) adult obesity intervention on beverage intake in Native American adults living in five geographically and culturally diverse tribal communities. Design: A 14-month, community-randomised, MLMC design was utilised, with three communities randomised to Intervention and two communities randomised to Comparison. FFQ were administered pre- and post-interventions, and difference-in-differences (DiD) analysis was used to assess intervention impact on beverage intake. Setting: The intervention took place within food stores, worksites, schools and selected media outlets located in the five communities. Key activities included working with store owners to stock healthy beverages, display and dispersal of educational materials, support of policies that discouraged unhealthy beverage consumption at worksites and schools and taste tests. Participants: Data were collected from 422 respondents between the ages of 18 and 75 living in the five communities pre-intervention; of those, 299 completed post-intervention surveys. Only respondents completing both pre- and post-intervention surveys were included in the current analysis. Results: The DiD for daily servings of regular, sugar-sweetened soda from pre- to post-intervention was significant, indicating a significant decrease in Intervention communities (P < 0·05). No other changes to beverage intake were observed. Conclusions: Large, MLMC obesity interventions can successfully reduce the intake of regular, sugar-sweetened soda in Native American adults. This is important within modern food environments where sugar-sweetened beverages are a primary source of added sugars in Native American diets.

Short Communication: Obesity Intervention Resulting in Significant Changes in the Human Gut Viral Composition

Obesity is a health problem of global concern that negatively impacts quality of life. Various studies have implicated obesity in the disruption of the normal microbiome composition. The virome consists of a collection of all the viruses that inhabit a particular niche. However, the study of such viruses that compose the human gut microbiome in the context of obesity has been paid little attention. One interesting aspect of virome study is the description of phages that can specifically interact with the bacterial component of the microbiota and modulate the microbiome’s dynamics. Previous work showed that the microbiota composition changes after obesity treatment and that these changes are country specific. In this work, we perform a quick gut viral composition of the gut microbiota of patients from Denmark, Italy, and Chile before and after obesity intervention using metagenomic sequences previously published and bioinformatics tools. Our results showed that obesity treatment results in significant changes in the human gut viral composition. These results conclude that the virome composition changes after obesity intervention by suggesting that changes can be related to the microbiota rearrangements reported in other works and may be involved in microbial dynamics after treatment.

Photobiomodulation: a potential adjunctive obesity intervention a review

Obesity, a largely intractable health condition with incalculable health and financial and social costs and ramifications remains an immense challenge to mitigate effectively. Multiple interventions to offset obesity, while studied and implemented for many years, have generally failed to eliminate this growing global epidemic. Alternately, interventions that can offer hope, especially to those who are physically as well as emotionally challenged, with negative outcome expectations, would appear of high significance. Studied for over 40 years, various forms of light therapy are proving to be of possible adjunctive benefit in efforts to reduce excess weight. This mini review discusses some findings regarding photobiomodulation or light therapy and whether more intense study and evaluation will improve the overall obesity burden and outlook. Extracted from current literature, it is concluded that this is a field of significant promise