CLINICAL TRIAL article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Immunology
This article is part of the Research TopicNutrition, Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Lifestyle-related Chronic DiseaseView all 5 articles
Effects of a Comprehensive Management Mode for Overweight/Obesity based on Mobile Internet Technology and Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitution Theory: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shanghai East Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
- 2Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai, China
- 3Beijing CapitalBio Technology Company Limited, Beijing, China
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Abstract Background: We aimed to investigate the overall effectiveness of a comprehensive management mode for overweight/obesity based on mobile internet technology and TCM constitution theory. Methods: 40 subjects were enrolled and randomly divided into control group (traditional obesity management mode) and intervention group (comprehensive obesity management mode). The intervention period was 8 weeks, and the follow-up period was 1 year. The information of body indicators, blood indicators and gut microbiota indicators at baseline, 8 weeks and 1 year were collected and analyzed, the primary outcome was the effective weight loss (≥5% body weight loss) rate at 1 year. Results: The average age of 40 subjects was 40.3±9.49 years old, with 18 males accounting for 45%. The effective weight loss rate of intervention group was significantly higher than control group (75% vs 35%)(P=0.025) at 1 year. The body weight (6.88±4.00 vs 3.08±2.35, P=0.001), BMI(2.38±1.23 vs 1.10±0.87, P=0.001), body fat rate(BFR)(1.8±0.85 vs 0.82±0.60, P=0.001), fasting plasma glucose (FPG)(1.08±0.69 vs 0.49±0.91, P=0.027), total cholesterol (TC) (1.72±0.60 vs 0.77±0.57, P=0.001), Triglyceride (TG) (0.56±0.52 vs 0.16±0.22, P=0.003), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)(1.35±0.49 vs 0.71±0.50, P=0.001), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP)(1.80±1.96 vs 0.60±1.57, P=0.039) decreased more significant in the intervention group. The gut microbiota analysis showed that after intervention, in the intervention group, at phylum level, the Cyanobacteria abundance increased (P=0.040), while the Euryarchaeota abundance decreased (P=0.045). In addition, the functional abundance of Photosynthesis decreased (P=0.008). Conclusion: The comprehensive overweight/obesity management mode integrating mHealth with TCM constitution showed more significant long-term weight loss effects. The increase of Cyanobacteria and decrease of Euryarchaeota may be associated with this effect, warranting further investigation. (Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1900025881, Registration Date: 2019-09-12)
Keywords: Gut Microbiota, Management mode, Mobile health technology, Obesity management, Traditional Chinese medicine constitution
Received: 07 Sep 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 CHEN, Junyi, Duan, Wang and JIANG. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: HUA JIANG
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