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YSU professor part of weight-loss study of cancer survivors
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A Youngstown State University professor was one of the researchers in a study that showed positive results for survivors of endometrial and breast cancer.
Rachael Pohle-Krauza, associate professor of nutrition in the Human Ecology Department in YSU’s Bitonte College of Health and Human Services, was also the senior dietitian-nutritionist in the study that showed a new weight-loss application helped endometrial and breast cancer survivors. Pohle-Krauza is on the science team at Summa Health System in Akron, which conducted the study.
In the study, 50 women, with a body-mass index, a calculation based on height and weight, of 25 or higher who also were survivors of either breast or endometrial cancer, lost 3 percent to 4 percent of their BMI using Lose It! — a web and smartphone/tablet-based app. Study participants also saw a decrease in the size of their waists.
A healthy BMI ranges from 18.5 to 24.9.
“In addition, they reported significant increases in self-efficacy — or belief in one’s ability to succeed — related to weight management,” Pohle-Krauza said. “Furthermore, we found that the increase in participants’ self-efficacy was directly associated with the amount of feedback they received from the health-care research team and app.”
With Lose It!, participants enter their food consumption and physical activity with a weight-loss goal. Participants, all from the greater Akron area, were in a period of remission. By virtue of the area’s demographics, they represent a disparate group, and many were minorities and from a lower socioeconomic population.
Though Lose It! is available for free from the App Store, the researchers used an add-on to the program whereby participants were monitored by an exercise physiologist, gynecological oncologist, medical resident and dietitian.
Pohle-Krauza and her research colleagues were able to communicate with the participants and one another, sending comments, reminders, or encouraging messages to patients based on the food choices and activity level.
They were also able to ask questions and explain things to participants.
“What our research found parallels the recent SUCCEED (Survivors of Uterine Cancer Empowered by Exercise and healthy Diet) trial,” lead study author Michele McCarroll, director of Women’s Health Research at Summa Health System’s Center for Women’s Health Research, and an assistant professor for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northeast Ohio Medical University, said in a news release. “We were very encouraged by the findings, which validate that a lifestyle intervention using an application like Lose It! is a feasible option for short-term weight loss.”
It’s also more accessible and less costly than traditional forms of health care, Pohle-Krauza said.
“A lot of them may not have access to hospitals or doctors, but most people have smartphones nowadays,” she said. “It’s a great low-cost way to reach people.”
Pohle-Krauza said she was able to involve some of her YSU students in the project.
“I was able to show them one of the ways a registered dietitian could be a part of a interdisciplinary team that moves away from the face-to-face model,” she said. “I’ve been able to integrate my teaching with the research I’ve been doing.”