Evaluating the Impact of a Digital Nutrition Platform on Cholesterol Levels in Users With Dyslipidemia: Longitudinal Study
BackgroundA strong association exists between consuming a healthy diet and lowering cholesterol levels among individuals with high cholesterol. However, implementing and sustaining a healthy diet in the real world is a major challenge. Digital technologies are at the forefront of changing dietary be...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JMIR Publications
2021-06-01
|
| Series: | JMIR Cardio |
| Online Access: | https://cardio.jmir.org/2021/1/e28392 |
| _version_ | 1798029809694015488 |
|---|---|
| author | Hu, Emily A Scharen, Jared Nguyen, Viet Langheier, Jason |
| author_facet | Hu, Emily A Scharen, Jared Nguyen, Viet Langheier, Jason |
| author_sort | Hu, Emily A |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundA strong association exists between consuming a healthy diet and lowering cholesterol levels among individuals with high cholesterol. However, implementing and sustaining a healthy diet in the real world is a major challenge. Digital technologies are at the forefront of changing dietary behavior on a massive scale, as they can reach broad populations. There is a lack of evidence that has examined the benefit of a digital nutrition intervention, especially one that incorporates nutrition education, meal planning, and food ordering, on cholesterol levels among individuals with dyslipidemia.
ObjectiveThe aim of this observational longitudinal study was to examine the characteristics of people with dyslipidemia, determine how their status changed over time, and evaluate the changes in total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), non-HDL-C, and triglycerides among individuals with elevated lipids who used Foodsmart, a digital nutrition platform that integrates education, meal planning, and food ordering.
MethodsWe included 653 adults who used Foodsmart between January 2015 and February 2021, and reported a lipid marker twice. Participants self-reported age, gender, weight, and usual dietary intake in a 53-item food frequency questionnaire, and lipid values could be provided at any time. Dyslipidemia was defined as total cholesterol ≥200 mg/dL, HDL-C ≤40 mg/dL, LDL-C ≥130 mg/dL, or triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL. We retrospectively analyzed distributions of user characteristics and their associations with the likelihood of returning to normal lipid levels. We calculated the mean changes and percent changes in lipid markers among users with elevated lipids.
ResultsIn our total sample, 54.1% (353/653) of participants had dyslipidemia at baseline. Participants with dyslipidemia at baseline were more likely to be older, be male, and have a higher weight and BMI compared with participants who had normal lipid levels. We found that 36.3% (128/353) of participants who had dyslipidemia at baseline improved their lipid levels to normal by the end of follow-up. Using multivariate logistic regression, we found that baseline obesity (odds ratio [OR] 2.57, 95% CI 1.25-5.29; P=.01) and Nutriscore (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.00-1.09; P=.04) were directly associated with achieving normal lipid levels. Participants with elevated lipid levels saw improvements as follows: HDL-C increased by 38.5%, total cholesterol decreased by 6.8%, cholesterol ratio decreased by 20.9%, LDL-C decreased by 12.9%, non-HDL-C decreased by 7.8%, and triglycerides decreased by 10.8%.
ConclusionsThis study characterized users of the Foodsmart platform who had dyslipidemia and found that users with elevated lipid levels showed improvements in the levels over time. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:30:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ef33ed63a48a459abcb2f260462f399b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2561-1011 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:30:17Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Cardio |
| spelling | doaj.art-ef33ed63a48a459abcb2f260462f399b2022-12-22T04:07:01ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Cardio2561-10112021-06-0151e2839210.2196/28392Evaluating the Impact of a Digital Nutrition Platform on Cholesterol Levels in Users With Dyslipidemia: Longitudinal StudyHu, Emily AScharen, JaredNguyen, VietLangheier, JasonBackgroundA strong association exists between consuming a healthy diet and lowering cholesterol levels among individuals with high cholesterol. However, implementing and sustaining a healthy diet in the real world is a major challenge. Digital technologies are at the forefront of changing dietary behavior on a massive scale, as they can reach broad populations. There is a lack of evidence that has examined the benefit of a digital nutrition intervention, especially one that incorporates nutrition education, meal planning, and food ordering, on cholesterol levels among individuals with dyslipidemia. ObjectiveThe aim of this observational longitudinal study was to examine the characteristics of people with dyslipidemia, determine how their status changed over time, and evaluate the changes in total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), non-HDL-C, and triglycerides among individuals with elevated lipids who used Foodsmart, a digital nutrition platform that integrates education, meal planning, and food ordering. MethodsWe included 653 adults who used Foodsmart between January 2015 and February 2021, and reported a lipid marker twice. Participants self-reported age, gender, weight, and usual dietary intake in a 53-item food frequency questionnaire, and lipid values could be provided at any time. Dyslipidemia was defined as total cholesterol ≥200 mg/dL, HDL-C ≤40 mg/dL, LDL-C ≥130 mg/dL, or triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL. We retrospectively analyzed distributions of user characteristics and their associations with the likelihood of returning to normal lipid levels. We calculated the mean changes and percent changes in lipid markers among users with elevated lipids. ResultsIn our total sample, 54.1% (353/653) of participants had dyslipidemia at baseline. Participants with dyslipidemia at baseline were more likely to be older, be male, and have a higher weight and BMI compared with participants who had normal lipid levels. We found that 36.3% (128/353) of participants who had dyslipidemia at baseline improved their lipid levels to normal by the end of follow-up. Using multivariate logistic regression, we found that baseline obesity (odds ratio [OR] 2.57, 95% CI 1.25-5.29; P=.01) and Nutriscore (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.00-1.09; P=.04) were directly associated with achieving normal lipid levels. Participants with elevated lipid levels saw improvements as follows: HDL-C increased by 38.5%, total cholesterol decreased by 6.8%, cholesterol ratio decreased by 20.9%, LDL-C decreased by 12.9%, non-HDL-C decreased by 7.8%, and triglycerides decreased by 10.8%. ConclusionsThis study characterized users of the Foodsmart platform who had dyslipidemia and found that users with elevated lipid levels showed improvements in the levels over time.https://cardio.jmir.org/2021/1/e28392 |
| spellingShingle | Hu, Emily A Scharen, Jared Nguyen, Viet Langheier, Jason Evaluating the Impact of a Digital Nutrition Platform on Cholesterol Levels in Users With Dyslipidemia: Longitudinal Study JMIR Cardio |
| title | Evaluating the Impact of a Digital Nutrition Platform on Cholesterol Levels in Users With Dyslipidemia: Longitudinal Study |
| title_full | Evaluating the Impact of a Digital Nutrition Platform on Cholesterol Levels in Users With Dyslipidemia: Longitudinal Study |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating the Impact of a Digital Nutrition Platform on Cholesterol Levels in Users With Dyslipidemia: Longitudinal Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating the Impact of a Digital Nutrition Platform on Cholesterol Levels in Users With Dyslipidemia: Longitudinal Study |
| title_short | Evaluating the Impact of a Digital Nutrition Platform on Cholesterol Levels in Users With Dyslipidemia: Longitudinal Study |
| title_sort | evaluating the impact of a digital nutrition platform on cholesterol levels in users with dyslipidemia longitudinal study |
| url | https://cardio.jmir.org/2021/1/e28392 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT huemilya evaluatingtheimpactofadigitalnutritionplatformoncholesterollevelsinuserswithdyslipidemialongitudinalstudy AT scharenjared evaluatingtheimpactofadigitalnutritionplatformoncholesterollevelsinuserswithdyslipidemialongitudinalstudy AT nguyenviet evaluatingtheimpactofadigitalnutritionplatformoncholesterollevelsinuserswithdyslipidemialongitudinalstudy AT langheierjason evaluatingtheimpactofadigitalnutritionplatformoncholesterollevelsinuserswithdyslipidemialongitudinalstudy |