Online dietitians help hypertensive patients lose weight

Online dieticians helped patients who are obese and suffer from hypertension lose more weight compared to those receiving traditional dietitian care, according to a new study published in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The e-Care for Heart Wellness study showed that these patients with "pocket dietitians" were more likely to have lost 10 pounds in six months if they had secure online access to a dietitian than if they went the traditional route.

The online approach has a dietitian-led team to support patients, who received their own home blood pressure monitor, scale, pedometer and initial face-to-face visit with a dietitian to discuss a game plan to reduce their heart risk, including the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.

The DASH diet requires the consumption of eight to 10 servings of vegetables and fruits per day. Green explains that it doesn't mean eating less food - just healthier food.

After the dietician visit, participants would report - through Group Health's secure website - their blood pressure, weight, and vegetable and fruit intake in addition to receiving ongoing feedback from their dietician. When appropriate, the dietitians also encouraged patients and their doctors to consider changes to their hypertensive and lipid-lowering medication dosages.

Of the 90 people who completed a six-month follow-up, the 44 who had been randomly assigned to receive dietitian e-care had higher rates of patient satisfaction and of use of Group Health's secure messaging compared to the 46 assigned to education and usual care. Blood pressure and heart risk were lower in the intervention group, but the differences weren't significant. There was, however, a significant decrease in their weight.

One expert involved in the study notes that this new technique for changing diet can only be beneficial in a world where heart disease and stroke run rampant.

"Heart disease and stroke are the number-one cause of death in the United States, but they don't have to be," Dr. Beverly B. Green, a family doctor at Group Health, an associate investigator at Group Health Research Institute, and an assistant clinical professor in family medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, said in a statement. "If people had better control of their heart risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol, and we could prevent or decrease obesity, we could cut the number of heart deaths in half."