Body Composition Assessment and Smart-phone Based Counselling on Healthy Eating and Weight Management

The Effectiveness on Healthy Eating and Weight Management by Body Composition Assessment and Smart-phone Based Counselling Among Middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese: A 6-month Randomized Controlled Trial

This study proposed an integrated multi-disciplinary approach including a professional and convenient body composition measurement and an immediate counselling after the measurement, followed by 6-month smart-phone based individualized counselling. We believe that this approach will promote healthy eating behaviors and weight management among middle-aged Chinese in Hong Kong.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy Diet; Weight Management
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Body composition assessment and smart-phone based counselling

Detailed Description

This is a two-arm, individual level, 6-month randomized controlled trial. The intervention group will receive convenient body composition measurement and 6-month smart-phone based individualized counselling. No specific intervention will be given to the control group except the common anthropometric and body composition measurement. A pretest-posttest evaluation and between-group comparison will be used to test whether the impact/success of the project has been achieved.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 221
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hung Hom, Hong Kong
    • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 45 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Able to understand Cantonese and read Chinese;
• Self-reported vegetable and fruit consumption is less than 5 servings per day (one serving means 125 mL (½ cup) fresh, frozen or canned fruits or vegetables; or 250 mL (1 cup) raw leafy veggies or salad; or 125 mL (½ cup) 100% juice; or 1 fruit;
• Reachable by smart-phone and familiar with the use of smart-phone;
• Would not move from the local area during the study period.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Self-reported history of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, neurological disorder, musculo-skeletal disorder, osteoarthritis, and eating disorder;
• Receiving medically prescribed diet or physical activity intervention;
• For women, currently pregnant;
• Have been taking any medications or long-term supplement such as herbs;
• Cannot provide written informed consent.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Body composition assessment and smart-phone based counselling group; In this study, we consider body composition measurement together with an immediate brief counselling after the measurement as part of the intervention. The body composition measurement will allow the participants to get familiar with their own anthropometric data and serve as cues to actions of healthy diet adoption and weight management and control. Based on the measured body fat and anthropometric data, a trained research assistant will give brief individualized dietary and weight management counselling to the participants. The Whatsapp-based counselling and communication will heighten the awareness through reinforcing the need and benefits of body composition and weight control, the importance of energy balance, as well as providing professional and tailor-made advice on healthy eating and weight management. Qualitative dietary counselling will be offered every two weeks through the Whatsapp.	Behavioral: Body composition assessment and smart-phone based counselling; As for the body composition assessment, body fat and muscle thickness, body fat percentage and distribution will be measured and a brief face-to-face counseling soon after the measurement will be implemented to the participants. Body assessment were measured by the InBody 270 (Biospace, Seoul, Korea) device, which provides a convenient way of accurate body fat measurement comparable with those obtained using air displacement plethysmography (ADP) (about 90% precision). As for the Whatsapp-based counselling and communication session, qualitative dietary counselling will be offered every two weeks through the Whatsapp. One session contains 15 minutes, including the topics like making a balanced diet (55 % glucose, 30 % lipids and 15 % proteins), diversifying food intake, dietary advices and recommendations in healthy eating behaviors (e.g., eat slowly, eat at a regular time, avoid to skip a meal, drink at least 1.5 L of water each day).
No Intervention: Control group; Participants in the control group will receive the simple body composition measurement only, without an immediate counselling after the measurement. Whey will be informed the values of anthropometric data and body composition parameters, no detailed interpretation of the values will be delivered to them. They will also not receive the professional consultant of the healthy diet and weight management from the diatetitian during the intervention period.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The difference of the weight management belief	Four items from belief domain of Chinese weight management scales (WMS) was used to measure the participants' belief of self weight management . Each item is measured by 3- or 4-point Likert scale. The total score change from 4 to 15 with higher scores indicating better weight management belief.	From baseline to 6 months after randomization
The difference of the weight management knowledge	The knowledge of weight management was measured by 13 items from the general nutrition knowledge questionnaire (GNKQ). Each item carries one point for a correct answer and the maximum score is 13. A higher score shows better weight management knowledge.	From baseline to 6 months after randomization

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The difference of health eating behavior	Respondents' food knowledge and behavior were obtained through the food behavior questionnaire (FBQ). The FBQ is a questionnaire with 18 questions querying respondents' behaviors and knowledge about various areas of food and diet-related health such as nutrition label reading behaviors, knowledge of diet/disease relationships and some meal consumption patterns.	From baseline to 6 months after randomization
Weight	Weight in kg.	From baseline to 6 months after randomization
Body mass index (BMI)	BMI in kg/m^2	From baseline to 6 months after randomization
Waist circumference	Waist in cm	From baseline to 6 months after randomization
Hip circumference	Hip in cm	From baseline to 6 months after randomization
Thigh circumference	Thigh in cm	From baseline to 6 months after randomization
Systolic blood pressure	Systolic blood pressure in mmHg	From baseline to 6 months after randomization
Diastolic blood pressure	Diastolic blood pressure in mmHg	From baseline to 6 months after randomization
Body fat percentage	Body fat percentage was measured by a professional body composition analyzer named InBody 270 in %.	From baseline to 6 months after randomization
Body fat mass	Body fat mass was measured by a professional body composition analyzer named InBody 270 in kg.	From baseline to 6 months after randomization

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Yao Jie Xie, PhD, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 31, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 18, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 26, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): June 1, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 8, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 6, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Weight Management; Body Composition Assessment; Smart-phone Based Counselling; Health Eating Behavior; Middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Body Weight
• Other Study ID Numbers: P0013890

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No