Health Spa weight management and its influence on anthropometric, psychobehavioural and hormonal indices

Overview

Aim:
To reveal a role for short-term spa weight management in changes of select anthropometric, psychobehavioural and hormonal indices.

Methods:
Sixty seven overweight/obese women participated in 4-wk comprehensive obesity management programme in the Spa Obesity Unit. The energy and nutrient content of meals prepared in the central kitchen was calculated using the Nutrition PC program. A diet which provided 7.0 MJ/day during the first week resulted in a stable weight. During the subsequent 3 weeks a diet with a daily energy content of 4.5 MJ was administered. Regular physical exercise, mostly of an aerobic character, was an integral part of the programme. Anthropometric, psychobehavioural and laboratory examinations were performed both before and after the weight reducing programme. Laboratory examinations included assays of hormones involved in energy balance regulation. Among the psychobehavioural indices, the Beck Depression Inventory and three factors of the Eating Inventory (dietary restraint, disinhibition and hunger), were evaluated.

Results and conclusions:
Spa weight management conducted in Lipová Láznû favourably influenced body weight, body composition and body fat distribution. Weight management-induced declines in the Beck depression score, and disinhibition and hunger scores of the Eating Inventory with a simultaneous increase in dietary restraint might favourably affect further the prognosis of weight management. Significant decrease in the plasma concentration of orexigenic neuropeptide Y may contribute to the observed reduction of the hunger score during the treatment with a low energy diet.

Key words:
spa obesity treatment, body weight reduction, anthropometric indices, hormones, psychobehavioural factors.