Clinical Research Studies

Over 40% of American adults have obesity, with a higher prevalence for racial/ethnic minorities such as Hispanic (47%) and non-Hispanic Black/African American populations (46.8%), increasing their cardiovascular disease risk. Most behavioral interventions do not target attention bias that may be driving food intake, and this may limit their effectiveness. Attention bias to unhealthy foods describes the automatic processes by which these foods capture attention, and activate the brain’s reward system. During computer-based food response training, people can learn to counteract this attention bias by repeatedly inhibiting their responses to unhealthy foods. Afterward, people devalue these foods, experience fewer cravings, and reduce their food intake, binge eating symptoms, and weight. Food response training may be particularly beneficial for people with low inhibitory control who, by definition, demonstrate decreased ability to suppress task-irrelevant behaviors. Food response training has promise as a novel weight-loss treatment, yet most studies to date have taken place in laboratory settings with students. Thus, it is unclear whether findings are generalizable to diverse patient populations and within clinical settings. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study aims to determine the acceptability and feasibility of a food response training intervention among racially and ethnically diverse patients with obesity and elevated cardiovascular disease. We will conduct a single group pre-post study to examine the acceptability and feasibility of the food response training intervention and 12-week outcomes (i.e., dietary intake, weight, and blood pressure). We will also conduct individual interviews with a subset of patients to examine patients’ perceptions of the food response training intervention. We also explore if the effects of the food response training intervention on reduced dietary intake and weight will be stronger for patients who score low on the inhibitory self-control scale. Food response training is a novel and potentially scalable weight-loss intervention that may help diverse patients with obesity to consume healthy foods, lose weight, and improve their cardiovascular health.