The Fully Understanding Eating and Lifestyle Behaviors (FUEL) trial: Protocol for a cohort study harnessing digital health tools to phenotype dietary non-adherence behaviors during lifestyle intervention

Abstract

Objective Lifestyle intervention can produce clinically significant weight loss and reduced disease risk/severity for many individuals with overweight/obesity. Dietary lapses, instances of non-adherence to the recommended dietary goal(s) in lifestyle intervention, are associated with less weight loss and higher energy intake. There are distinct “types” of dietary lapse (e.g., eating an off-plan food, eating a larger portion), and behavioral, psychosocial, and contextual mechanisms may differ across dietary lapse types. Some lapse types also appear to impact weight more than others. Elucidating clear lapse types thus has potential for understanding and improving adherence to lifestyle intervention. Methods This 18-month observational cohort study will use real-time digital assessment tools within a multi-level factor analysis framework to uncover “lapse phenotypes” and understand their impact on clinical outcomes. Adults with overweight/obesity ( n = 150) will participate in a 12-month online lifestyle intervention and 6-month weight loss maintenance period. Participants will complete 14-day lapse phenotyping assessment periods at baseline, 3, 6, 12, and 18 months in which smartphone surveys, wearable devices, and geolocation will assess dietary lapses and relevant phenotyping characteristics. Energy intake (via 24-h dietary recall) and weight will be collected at each assessment period. Results This trial is ongoing; data collection began on 31 October 2022 and is scheduled to complete by February 2027. Conclusion Results will inform novel precision tools to improve dietary adherence in lifestyle intervention, and support updated theoretical models of adherence behavior. Additionally, these phenotyping methods can likely be leveraged to better understand non-adherence to other health behavior interventions. Trial Registration This study was prospectively registered https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05562427