The impact of behavioral weight management interventions on eating behavior traits in adults with overweight or obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Eating behavior traits (EBTs), defined as personal tendencies determining food intake, can be useful targets for behavioral weight management interventions. Previous reviews have examined the impact of specific intervention types on EBTs, not reflecting the breadth of interventions used in practice. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized evidence on the impact of all types of behavioral weight management interventions on EBTs. We searched seven databases and included randomized controlled trials reporting EBT outcomes following behavioral weight management interventions delivered to adults with overweight or obesity. Using random-effects meta-analyses, we synthesized findings from 27 trials at the end of intervention and 12 months (+/- 3 months) post intervention. We found evidence to suggest that interventions improved uncontrolled eating, external eating, susceptibility to hunger, restraint and intuitive eating at intervention end when compared with waitlist, minimal or usual care control. We found no evidence of effects on emotional eating, disinhibition, and hedonic hunger. At follow-up, effects on restraint remained, but we found no evidence of an effect on emotional eating, hedonic hunger and uncontrolled eating. Findings were limited by low numbers of contributing trials. More high-quality trials reporting EBTs are needed to better understand the impact of adult behavioral weight management interventions on EBTs.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022367505.