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Black participants lost, maintained weight in 12-week, church-based intervention
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After 12 weeks, 46% of overweight and obese black adults who completed a faith-based behavioral intervention program lost 5% or more of their body weight and kept it off for at least six months.
Researchers presented data from the pilot Fit Body and Soul program at the American Heart Association’s 49th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Palm Harbor, Fla.
The program was conducted by trained lay leaders at Gospel Water Branch Baptist Church near Augusta, Ga. Researchers collected data on 35 obese men and women (mean age, 46 years; mean BMI, 36) who completed 12 initial weekly sessions. The program also included six monthly booster sessions for six months after the 12 weekly sessions.
At the end of the study, 11 of 16 participants with initial weight-loss success maintained the weight loss through the entire nine months; this included the 46% who lost 5% or more of their starting weight and 26% who lost 7% or more.
“This kind of result is remarkable in a faith-based program run by lay leaders when so many other community-based programs have failed,” Sunita Dodani, MD, PhD, MSc, director of the Center for Outcome Research and Education and associate professor at Kansas University Medical Center in Kansas City, said in a press release.
The modules were adapted from the National Institutes of Health–sponsored Diabetes Prevention Program. The NIH recently approved a $3.7 million grant for five years to scale up the Fit Body and Soul study in a controlled comparison of 20 Midwest churches.
For more information:
- Dodani S. #P42. Presented at: American Heart Association’s 49th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention; March 10-14, 2009; Palm Harbor, Fla.