Yu Jin Paek1, Jeung Ok2, Eon Sook Lee3

1Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanllym University, Anyang, Korea 2Department of Professional Psychotherapy, Seoul Cyber University, Seoul, Korea 3Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Inje University, Goyang, Korea

Mindfulness training is growing in popularity as an adjunctive intervention in disordered eating and weight loss. Lifestyle modification, pharmacologic treatment, and surgical intervention have been widely used for weight re- duction in obese persons, but these modifications are sometimes insufficient. In particular, stress-induced eat- ing and binge- eating disorder have been frequently associated with increased risk of regaining weight. Initial re- search suggests that mindfulness training may be an effective intervention for binge eating. In this article, we reviewed 19 studies that investigated mindfulness training as an intervention for weight change and/or emo- tional eating. Results suggest that mindfulness training effectively decreases emotional eating in persons with good adherence to the training; evidence for its effect on weight reduction, however, is mixed. Further large-scale studies are warranted to explore the effectiveness of mindfulness training on long-term weight loss and emotional eating in persons with obesity.
Korean J Health Promot 2019;19(4):186-195

Keywords: Obesity, Overweight, Cognitive behavioral therapy, Mindfulness, Emotional, Weight reduction pro- gram