A Digital Toolkit for Weight Loss Maintenance in European Adults (NoHoW): 2×2 Factorial Randomized Controlled Trial
A large rigorous trial found digital tools alone did not help people maintain weight loss, providing realistic expectations for what smartphone apps can achieve.
The largest multicountry factorial RCT of digital-only weight loss maintenance (n=1,627 across three European countries) found no significant benefit of self-regulation or emotion regulation digital toolkits over an active control at 12 months. This rigorously designed null result is important for calibrating expectations for digital behavior change interventions in cardiometabolic risk reduction.
What the study was
- Study design
- Multinational 2×2 factorial RCT
- Population
- European adults (UK, Denmark, Portugal) who achieved ≥5% weight loss in prior 12 months (n=1,627, baseline BMI ≥25)
- Sample size
- 1627
- Category
- Prevention
- Maturity
- Validated
- Journal
- Journal of Medical Internet Research
Why it surfaced
Large multinational RCT with rigorous design; null result informs digital health field; cardiometabolic secondary endpoints reported.
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