Characteristics of European adults who dropped out from the Food4Me Internet-based personalised nutrition intervention.
Katherine M Livingstone, Carlos Celis-Morales, Anna L Macready, Rosalind Fallaize, Hannah Forster, Clara Woolhead, Clare B O'Donovan, Cyril Fm Marsaux, Santiago Navas-Carretero, Rodrigo San-Cristobal, Silvia Kolossa, Lydia Tsirigoti, Christina P Lambrinou, George Moschonis, Agnieszka Surwiłło, Christian A Drevon, Yannis Manios, Iwona Traczyk, Eileen R Gibney, Lorraine Brennan, Marianne C Walsh, Julie A Lovegrove, J Alfredo Martinez, Wim Hm Saris, Hannelore Daniel, Mike Gibney, John C Mathers
Author Information
Katherine M Livingstone: 1Human Nutrition Research Centre,Institute of Cellular Medicine,Newcastle University,Biomedical Research Building,Campus for Ageing and Vitality,Newcastle upon Tyne,NE4 5PL,UK. ORCID
Carlos Celis-Morales: 1Human Nutrition Research Centre,Institute of Cellular Medicine,Newcastle University,Biomedical Research Building,Campus for Ageing and Vitality,Newcastle upon Tyne,NE4 5PL,UK.
Anna L Macready: 2Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition and Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research,University of Reading,Reading,UK.
Rosalind Fallaize: 2Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition and Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research,University of Reading,Reading,UK.
Hannah Forster: 3UCD Institute of Food and Health,University College Dublin,Dublin,Republic of Ireland.
Clara Woolhead: 3UCD Institute of Food and Health,University College Dublin,Dublin,Republic of Ireland.
Clare B O'Donovan: 3UCD Institute of Food and Health,University College Dublin,Dublin,Republic of Ireland.
Cyril Fm Marsaux: 4Department of Human Biology,NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism,Maastricht University Medical Centre,Maastricht,The Netherlands.
Santiago Navas-Carretero: 5Center for Nutrition Research,University of Navarra,Pamplona,Spain.
Rodrigo San-Cristobal: 6CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn),Instituto de Salud Carlos III,Madrid,Spain.
Silvia Kolossa: 7ZIEL Research Center of Nutrition and Food Sciences,Biochemistry Unit,Technical University of Munich,Munich,Germany.
Lydia Tsirigoti: 8Department of Nutrition and Dietetics,Harokopio University,Athens,Greece.
Christina P Lambrinou: 8Department of Nutrition and Dietetics,Harokopio University,Athens,Greece.
George Moschonis: 8Department of Nutrition and Dietetics,Harokopio University,Athens,Greece.
Agnieszka Surwiłło: 9National Food & Nutrition Institute (IZZ),Warsaw,Poland.
Christian A Drevon: 10Department of Nutrition,Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine,University of Oslo,Oslo,Norway.
Yannis Manios: 8Department of Nutrition and Dietetics,Harokopio University,Athens,Greece.
Iwona Traczyk: 9National Food & Nutrition Institute (IZZ),Warsaw,Poland.
Eileen R Gibney: 3UCD Institute of Food and Health,University College Dublin,Dublin,Republic of Ireland.
Lorraine Brennan: 3UCD Institute of Food and Health,University College Dublin,Dublin,Republic of Ireland.
Marianne C Walsh: 3UCD Institute of Food and Health,University College Dublin,Dublin,Republic of Ireland.
Julie A Lovegrove: 2Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition and Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research,University of Reading,Reading,UK.
J Alfredo Martinez: 6CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn),Instituto de Salud Carlos III,Madrid,Spain.
Wim Hm Saris: 4Department of Human Biology,NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism,Maastricht University Medical Centre,Maastricht,The Netherlands.
Hannelore Daniel: 7ZIEL Research Center of Nutrition and Food Sciences,Biochemistry Unit,Technical University of Munich,Munich,Germany.
Mike Gibney: 3UCD Institute of Food and Health,University College Dublin,Dublin,Republic of Ireland.
John C Mathers: 1Human Nutrition Research Centre,Institute of Cellular Medicine,Newcastle University,Biomedical Research Building,Campus for Ageing and Vitality,Newcastle upon Tyne,NE4 5PL,UK.
OBJECTIVE: To characterise Participants who dropped out of the Food4Me Proof-of-Principle study. DESIGN: The Food4Me study was an Internet-based, 6-month, four-arm, randomised controlled trial. The control group received generalised dietary and lifestyle recommendations, whereas Participants randomised to three different levels of personalised nutrition (PN) received advice based on dietary, phenotypic and/or genotypic data, respectively (with either more or less frequent feedback). SETTING: Seven recruitment sites: UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Poland and Greece. SUBJECTS: Adults aged 18-79 years (n 1607). RESULTS: A total of 337 (21 %) Participants dropped out during the intervention. At baseline, dropouts had higher BMI (0·5 kg/m2; P<0·001). Attrition did not differ significantly between individuals receiving generalised dietary guidelines (Control) and those randomised to PN. Participants were more likely to drop out (OR; 95 % CI) if they received more frequent feedback (1·81; 1·36, 2·41; P<0·001), were female (1·38; 1·06, 1·78; P=0·015), less than 45 years old (2·57; 1·95, 3·39; P<0·001) and obese (2·25; 1·47, 3·43; P<0·001). Attrition was more likely in Participants who reported an interest in losing weight (1·53; 1·19, 1·97; P<0·001) or skipping meals (1·75; 1·16, 2·65; P=0·008), and less likely if Participants claimed to eat healthily frequently (0·62; 0·45, 0·86; P=0·003). CONCLUSIONS: Attrition did not differ between Participants receiving generalised or PN advice but more frequent feedback was related to attrition for those randomised to PN interventions. Better strategies are required to minimise dropouts among younger and obese individuals participating in PN interventions and more frequent feedback may be an unnecessary burden.
