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Lifestyle intervention program reduces metabolic syndrome in a high-risk population

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Abstract

Objective

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a short-term faith-based lifestyle intervention that reduced risk factors contributing to obesity and metabolic syndrome in a high-risk US ethnic population.

Methods

The two-week residential medically supervised intervention incorporated a natural environment with spiritual motivation, plant-based nutrition, customized physical activity, cognitive awareness strategies and health education. The demographic population included forty-two middle-aged and aged participants of African-American or Afro-Caribbean/Other descent, considered as a high-risk for cardiometabolic morbidity and mortality enrolled in the Fit 4 You Lifestyle Retreat for two weeks. Based on the stratified analysis, the 59.5% of the demographic grouping consisted of African-American participants and 40.5% were Caribbean Americans. The mean age of the participants was 59.23 ± 11.24 years.

Results

Post-intervention sample paired t- test results indicated that blood concentrations of triglyceride, total cholesterol, and total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol were reduced compared to pre-intervention baselines.

Conclusion

This research suggests that short-term risk reduction interventions like the Fit 4 You Retreat can significantly reduce cardiometabolic vulnerability in this high-risk population.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Bio-Convergence, Sahmyook University, Seoul, Korea

    Ronda R. Davis

  2. Department of Food and Nutrition, Sahmyook University, Seoul, Korea

    Hyo-Jeong Hwang & Kyoung-Sik Han

  3. Africabio Enterprises Inc., Monrovia, Liberia

    Easton A. Reid

Authors
  1. Ronda R. Davis
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  2. Hyo-Jeong Hwang
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  3. Easton A. Reid
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  4. Kyoung-Sik Han
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Contributions

All authors provided a contribution to the conception and design or data analysis in drafting or revising manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kyoung-Sik Han.

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Conflict of interest

Ronda R. Davis, Hyo-Jeong Hwang, Easton A. Reid, and Kyoung-Sik Han authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by Sahmyook University’s institutional review board (SYUIRB# 2011-015).

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Davis, R.R., Hwang, HJ., Reid, E.A. et al. Lifestyle intervention program reduces metabolic syndrome in a high-risk population. Toxicol. Environ. Health Sci. 14, 389–395 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13530-022-00154-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13530-022-00154-5

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