Can Mindful Eating Improve Cholesterol and Glucose Level

Overview

This study aims to explore the effectiveness of mindful eating and its effect on cholesterol and glucose level. The participants will be required to get tested for their fasting total cholesterol and blood glucose level for two times. At the first visit, they will be required to complete the survey given and be tested for their fasting total cholesterol and blood glucose level. A recommendation on healthy food intake will be sent to participants. At the end of each week, participants will be required 1) to submit THREE photos of the meals that they are most satisfied with in terms of healthiness and 2) using the photos to answer a questionnaire about their diet. The photos and completed questionnaire must be submitted to the research investigator each week for a total of 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, participants will be required to get tested for their fasting total cholesterol and blood glucose level in the appointed pharmacy for the second time. It is estimated to require 15-30 minutes of their time weekly.

Consistently high cholesterol or/and glucose level pose harmful threat to the body that may cause lethal health conditions (e.g. stroke, cardiovascular diseases). In addition, 3.6 million Malaysians are suffering from diabetes, the highest rate of incidence in Asia and one of the highest in the world. There is crucial need to find ways to improve the situation. Tele-health interventions and mindful eating behaviours are proposed to be effective in improving the levels of cholesterol and glucose. To investigate and explore the intervention, a small-scale randomised controlled trial will be conducted by comparing the effectiveness of mindful eating and the effect on cholesterol and glucose level. Students will collect and analyse both quantitative and qualitative data. A small-scale randomised controlled trial will be conducted to compare the effectiveness of mindful eating and the effect on lipid level. Subjects will be randomly assigned to intervention or control group. For intervention group, subjects will be required to snap picture of every meal that they consume. At the end of the day, they are required to actively recall and reflect on how healthy they consider their meals to be. The reflection will be submitted to the research team daily together with the taken pictures of meal. As for the control group, subjects will only snap and submit the picture of their meals but without active recall and reflection. Subjects are required to return to the community pharmacy after two months to follow-up on their glucose and lipid levels post intervention.