Step Counts to Guide Body Weight and Heart Health in Overweight Adults

AI summary

From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.

The trial is looking for adults aged 20 and older who are overweight or obese, mostly inactive, and have a steady weight. It tests daily step goals for changing body weight and heart and metabolic risk.

Age

20 years and older

Sex

All sexes

Disease stage

Overweight or obese adults, otherwise healthy. Taking medication for high blood pressure or joint problems (osteoarthritis) is allowed.

Earlier treatment

No regular structured exercise in the past 6 months. Regular walking is allowed. No medicine for blood sugar or that affects metabolism (for example thyroid medicine).

Main reasons for not taking part

• Diagnosed heart, metabolic, kidney or lung disease, or memory and thinking problems
• Pregnant or planning pregnancy
• Current smokers
• Weight change of 5% or more in the past 6 months
• Structured exercise other than walking in the past 6 months (for example weight training, jogging, swimming, cycling)

The registry criteria, word for word

What the trial wants to find out

The prevalence of overweight and obesity remains epidemic in the United States, with some of the highest rates seen in older adults. While this phenomenon is certainly multifactorial, a good deal of evidence suggests that insufficient physical activity (PA) contributes significantly. Pilot data recently collected in a laboratory indicates a strong, inverse relationship between daily step counts and body fatness and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors when step counts are expressed relative to fat mass in young adults. This expression of PA may be especially predictive of body composition because it is influenced by factors that influence appetite and energy intake, energy expenditure, and the energy "reservoir" that is represented by body fat stores, all three elements of the "settling point" model of body weight. The strength of this relationship suggests that prescription of step counts that consider current body weight and composition, and weight loss goal, may yield predictable changes in weight and CMR in adults eating ad libitum. The long-term objective of this study is to quantify the relationship between daily step counts and body composition in young, middle aged, and older adults who are overweight/obese and develop a regression model that can be used to prescribe physical activity (daily step counts) for achieving a specific target body weight and predictably improving CMR risk for young, middle-aged, and older adult men and women over eight months while eating ad libitum. To achieve this objective, investigators will undertake two specific aims: 1) quantify the relationship between average steps·kg fat mass-1·day-1 and body composition/CMR profiles in healthy, overweight, and obese adults 20-39 years, 40-59 years, 60-79 years, and 80-plus years old, using inexpensive, widely available triaxial pedometers while eating ad libitum, and 2) quantify the efficacy of employing targeted step counts expressed as steps·kg fat mass-1·day-1 using the model developed in Aim 1 for producing predictable improvements in body composition and CMR factors in overweight and obese adults 20-39, 40-59, 60-79, and 80-plus years old, over 8 months while eating ad libitum. This study will result in a regression model that may significantly improve the way that PA is prescribed for weight management, with vast clinical and public health implications.

The group in the trial

• Regular accumulation of step count targets to achieve predictable weight lossTreatment being tested

  Participants will be provided a step count goal that may be expected to result in a weight loss of 5% of body weight, and will carry a pedometer for 8 months while striving to consistently reach the step count target.

  Treatment: Step counts for predictable changes in body weight/compositon and cardiometabolic risk