0000000000012600
AUTHOR
Leila Karhunen
showing 21 related works from this author
Eating behavior dimensions and 9-year weight loss maintenance : a sub-study of the Finnish Diabetes prevention study
2023
Abstract Background Behavioral processes through which lifestyle interventions influence risk factors for type 2 diabetes (T2DM), e.g., body weight, are not well-understood. We examined whether changes in psychological dimensions of eating behavior during the first year of lifestyle intervention would mediate the effects of intervention on body weight during a 9-year period. Methods Middle-aged participants (38 men, 60 women) with overweight and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were randomized to an intensive, individualized lifestyle intervention group (n = 51) or a control group (n = 47). At baseline and annually thereafter until nine years body weight was measured and the Three Factor Ea…
The effectiveness and applicability of different lifestyle interventions for enhancing wellbeing : the study design for a randomized controlled trial…
2014
Background: Obesity and stress are among the most common lifestyle-related health problems. Most of the current disease prevention and management models are not satisfactorily cost-effective and hardly reach those who need them the most. Therefore, novel evidence-based controlled interventions are necessary to evaluate models for prevention and treatment based on self-management. This randomized controlled trial examines the effectiveness, applicability, and acceptability of different lifestyle interventions with individuals having symptoms of metabolic syndrome and psychological distress. The offered interventions are based on cognitive behavioral approaches, and are designed for enhancing…
Anodal tDCS over the left prefrontal cortex does not cause clinically significant changes in circulating metabolites
2020
Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a putative treatment for depression, has been proposed to affect peripheral metabolism. Metabolic products from brain tissue may also cross the blood–brain barrier, reflecting the conditions in the brain. However, there are no previous data regarding the effect of tDCS on circulating metabolites.\ud Objective: To determine whether five daily sessions of tDCS modulate peripheral metabolites in healthy adult men.\ud Methods: This double-blind, randomized controlled trial involved 79 healthy males (aged 20–40 years) divided into two groups, one receiving tDCS (2 mA) and the other sham stimulated. The anode was placed over the left dor…
Perceptions, motives, and psychological flexibility associated with weight management
2012
Introduction: Overweight people are often able to lose weight with the help of professionals, but majority (about 85 %) of the weight losers fail to maintain behavioral changes that would lead to favorable results in the long term [1‐3]. Studies suggest that obesity treatment failures may reflect motivational and contextual impediments to weight loss, rather than limitations of the behavior change strategies per se [4, 5]. A stronger emphasis on motivational factors within a behavioral weight maintenance program offers promise for improving long-term outcomes. The motivation-focused approach has been shown to be as effective as the successful standard skill-based method in weight maintenanc…
High perceived stress is associated with unfavorable eating behavior in overweight and obese Finns of working age
2016
Stress-related eating may be a potential factor in the obesity epidemic. Rather little is known about how stress associates with eating behavior and food intake in overweight individuals in a free-living situation. Thus, the present study aims to investigate this question in psychologically distressed overweight and obese working-aged Finns. The study is a cross-sectional baseline analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Of the 339 study participants, those with all the needed data available (n = 297, 84% females) were included. The mean age was 48.9 y (SD = 7.6) and mean body mass index 31.3 kg/m(2) (SD = 3.0). Perceived stress and eating behavior were assessed by self-reported questionn…
Flexibility in weight management.
2013
The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships between changes in flexible vs. rigid restraints of eating during weight management, as well as how changes in the cognitive restraint of eating were related to psychological well-being and flexibility. The data includes information on 49 overweight persons who participated in a weight loss and maintenance (WLM) intervention and a follow-up assessment after 8-9 months. An increase in flexible cognitive restraint during the weight loss intervention was related to better weight loss maintenance and well-being. The more flexible restraint increased during the WLM intervention, the more psychological distress decreased. Moreover, lar…
The effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on eating behavior and diet delivered through face-to-face contact and a mobile app: a randomized co…
2018
Background Internal motivation and good psychological capabilities are important factors in successful eating-related behavior change. Thus, we investigated whether general acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) affects reported eating behavior and diet quality and whether baseline perceived stress moderates the intervention effects. Methods Secondary analysis of unblinded randomized controlled trial in three Finnish cities. Working-aged adults with psychological distress and overweight or obesity in three parallel groups: (1) ACT-based Face-to-face (n = 70; six group sessions led by a psychologist), (2) ACT-based Mobile (n = 78; one group session and mobile app), and (3) Control (n = 71; …
Motivators, barriers and strategies of weight management: A cross-sectional study among Finnish adults.
2018
Abstract Background Weight management (WM) is an ongoing global challenge. The purpose of this study was to analyze motivators, barriers, and strategies of WM among Finnish adults. Methods Data were collected in the ‘KULUMA’ (Consumers at the Weight Management Market) project among 667 community-dwelling adults in Eastern and Central Finland (Kuopio and Jyvaskyla). The self-reported questionnaire collected background information and responses to motivators, barriers, and strategy items. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to extract components of motivators, barriers, and strategies of WM, along with K-means clustering to categorize the participants. Results About 55% of the respond…
Psychological flexibility mediates change in intuitive eating regulation in acceptance and commitment therapy interventions
2017
AbstractObjectiveDespite the promising results related to intuitive eating, few studies have attempted to explain the processes encouraging this adaptive eating behaviour. The focus of the present study was on exploring mechanisms of change in intuitive eating and weight in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) interventions. Mediation provides important information regarding the treatment processes and theoretical models related to specific treatment approaches. The study investigates whether psychological flexibility, mindfulness skills and sense of coherence mediated the interventions’ effect on intuitive eating and weight.DesignSecondary analysis of a randomized control trial. Mediati…
Determinants of a regular intake of a nutritionally balanced school lunch among 10-17-year-old schoolchildren with special reference to sense of cohe…
2015
Background Free nutritionally balanced school lunches are offered to all schoolchildren in basic education in Finland in each school day. Having school lunch on a regular basis has been found to reflect overall eating patterns. However, skipping part of or even the entire lunch is common. The present study investigated the determinants of the regular consumption of a nutritionally balanced school lunch among schoolchildren, with special reference to the role of sense of coherence (SOC). Methods In total, 887 children (457 girls and 424 boys), aged 10–17 years from three municipalities in Eastern Finland, filled in a web-based questionnaire in class during a school day and reported eating pa…
The Effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Intervention on Inflammation and Stress Biomarkers : a Randomized Controlled Trial
2020
Abstract Background Psychological processes can be manifested in physiological health. We investigated whether acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), targeted on psychological flexibility (PF), influences inflammation and stress biomarkers among working-age adults with psychological distress and overweight/obesity. Method Participants were randomized into three parallel groups: (1) ACT-based face-to-face (n = 65; six group sessions led by a psychologist), (2) ACT-based mobile (n = 73; one group session and mobile app), and (3) control (n = 66; only the measurements). Systemic inflammation and stress markers were analyzed at baseline, at 10 weeks after the baseline (post-intervention), and…
Shared genetic risk between eating disorder- and substance-use-related phenotypes: Evidence from genome-wide association studies
2020
AbstractEating disorders and substance use disorders frequently co-occur. Twin studies reveal shared genetic variance between liabilities to eating disorders and substance use, with the strongest associations between symptoms of bulimia nervosa (BN) and problem alcohol use (genetic correlation [rg], twin-based=0.23-0.53). We estimated the genetic correlation between eating disorder and substance use and disorder phenotypes using data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Four eating disorder phenotypes (anorexia nervosa [AN], AN with binge-eating, AN without binge-eating, and a BN factor score), and eight substance-use-related phenotypes (drinks per week, alcohol use disorder [AUD], …
Predictors of increase in physical activity during a 6-month follow-up period among overweight and physically inactive healthy young adults
2015
Abstract Background/Objective The beneficial effects of physical activity (PA) are well known, but it remains challenging to increase PA among physically inactive and overweight young individuals. The present study aimed to examine how selected psychological and physical characteristics assessed at baseline predict the increase in total PA over a 6-month follow-up among 51 physically inactive and overweight adults (20 women, 31 men; age 26–40 years) who participated in a lifestyle counselling study without supervised PA sessions. Methods Baseline measurements included a questionnaire assessment of sense of coherence and psychological flexibility, heart rate monitoring-based stress/recovery …
Usage and Dose Response of a Mobile Acceptance and Commitment Therapy App: Secondary Analysis of the Intervention Arm of a Randomized Controlled Trial
2016
Background: Mobile phone apps offer a promising medium to deliver psychological interventions. A mobile app based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) was developed and studied in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Objective: To study usage metrics of a mobile ACT intervention and dose-response relationship between usage and improvement in psychological flexibility. Methods: An RCT was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of different lifestyle interventions for overweight people with psychological stress. This paper presents a secondary analysis of the group that received an 8-week mobile ACT intervention. Most of the analyzed 74 participants were female (n=64, 86%). Their me…
Psychological flexibility and mindfulness explain intuitive eating in overweight adults.
2015
The current study investigated whether mindfulness and psychological flexibility, independently and together, explain intuitive eating. The participants were overweight or obese persons ( N = 306) reporting symptoms of perceived stress and enrolled in a psychological lifestyle intervention study. Participants completed self-report measures of psychological flexibility; mindfulness including the subscales observe, describe, act with awareness, non-react, and non-judgment; and intuitive eating including the subscales unconditional permission to eat, eating for physical reasons, and reliance on hunger/satiety cues. Psychological flexibility and mindfulness were positively associated with intu…
Additional file 1: of The effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on eating behavior and diet delivered through face-to-face contact and a mobil…
2018
Table S1. The effects of ACT-based Face-to-face and Mobile interventions on diet quality. (PDF 26Â kb)
Sleep-time physiological recovery is associated with eating habits in distressed working-age Finns with overweight: secondary analysis of a randomise…
2021
Background Association of physiological recovery with nutrition has scarcely been studied. We investigated whether physiological recovery during sleep relates to eating habits, i.e., eating behaviour and diet quality. Methods Cross-sectional baseline analysis of psychologically distressed adults with overweight (N = 252) participating in a lifestyle intervention study in three Finnish cities. Recovery measures were based on sleep-time heart rate variability (HRV) measured for 3 consecutive nights. Measures derived from HRV were 1) RMSSD (Root Mean Square of the Successive Differences) indicating the parasympathetic activation of the autonomic nervous system and 2) Stress Balance (SB) indica…
Plasma lipid profile associates with the improvement of psychological well-being in individuals with perceived stress symptoms
2020
Psychological stress is a suggested risk factor of metabolic disorders, but molecular mediators are not well understood. We investigated the association between the metabolic profiles of fasting plasma and the improvement of psychological well-being using non-targeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) platform. The metabolic profiles of volunteers participating in the face-to-face intervention group (n = 60) in a randomised lifestyle intervention were compared to ones of controls (n = 64) between baseline and 36-week follow-up. Despite modest differences in metabolic profile between groups, we found associations between phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and several parameters indicat…
Additional file 2: of The effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on eating behavior and diet delivered through face-to-face contact and a mobil…
2018
Table S2. Standardized estimates (standard error) and p-values for moderated intervention effects. (PDF 27Â kb)
Additional file 1: of The effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on eating behavior and diet delivered through face-to-face contact and a mobil…
2018
Table S1. The effects of ACT-based Face-to-face and Mobile interventions on diet quality. (PDF 26Â kb)
Additional file 2: of The effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on eating behavior and diet delivered through face-to-face contact and a mobil…
2018
Table S2. Standardized estimates (standard error) and p-values for moderated intervention effects. (PDF 27Â kb)