Parents lose less weight than nonparents in an intensive lifestyle intervention

Understand whether parents lose less weight than nonparents in behavioural weight interventions.

The Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) trial randomized adults with Type 2 diabetes and overweight to an intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) or control (diabetes support and education [DSE]). Participants who reported living with a child under age 18 were designated as 'parents' for this analysis. Intention to treat analysis was performed of the effect of the ILI on change in weight at 1 year by parental status. Adherence to attending intervention visits was compared between parents and nonparents. Subgroup analyses were done based on previous subgroup findings in the Look AHEAD study.

Among 4,547 participants, 15% were parents. Parents were younger and more likely to have self-identified as African American or Hispanic/Latino. Comparing ILI with DSE, parents lost less weight than nonparents (-7.1% vs. -8.3%, p = 0.021). African American female parents lost 4% body weight compared with 7% in African American female nonparents (p = 0.01).

In a randomized trial, parents lost less weight than nonparents, and this difference was largest for African American women. These findings suggest parents face unique challenges achieving weight loss; more research is needed to understand and optimize interventions for parents.