Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Indirect lifestyle intervention through wives improves metabolic syndrome components in men

International Journal of Obesity volume 34, pages 136–145 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives:

It is well known that body weight loss through a direct (supervised) lifestyle intervention (LSI) improves obesity-related metabolic disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an indirect LSI on weight loss and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in spouses of LSI participants.

Methods:

A total of 104 men (abdominal circumference⩾85 cm; age, 52.1±9.3 years) were assigned to one of three groups: no intervention (NI, n=34), direct intervention (DI, n=34) or indirect intervention (II, n=36), the last of which consisted of subjects who did not participate in the direct LSI but whose wives did. Body weight and MetS components were measured before and after a 14-week intervention. Daily energy intake and activity-related energy expenditure were assessed before and during the intervention. The LSI program was mainly consisted of dietary modifications with a physical activity program.

Results:

No differences were observed across the three groups in any of the measures at baseline. Significant differences were observed among the groups in weight loss (NI, −0.7±1.4; DI, −6.2±3.3 and II, −4.4±3.7 kg) during the intervention. Along with the body weight reductions, significant improvements were observed in most of MetS components within the DI and II groups. When analyzing the spouse pairs in group II, significant correlations were observed in weight loss (r=0.57) and decreased total energy intake (r=0.54) between wives and husbands.

Conclusions:

Indirect LSI in abdominally obese men whose wives were undergoing LSI led to loss of weight and a decreased incidence of MetS, suggesting that indirect LSI may be an effective program for eliciting beneficial change in health status.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Grundy SM, Cleeman JI, Daniels SR, Donato KA, Eckel RH, Franklin BA et al. Diagnosis and management of the metabolic syndrome: an American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute scientific statement. Circulation 2005; 112: 2735–2752.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Lakka HM, Laaksonen DE, Lakka TA, Niskanen LK, Kumpusalo E, Tuomilehto J et al. The metabolic syndrome and total and cardiovascular disease mortality in middle-aged men. JAMA 2002; 288: 2709–2716.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hu G, Qiao Q, Tuomilehto J, Balkau B, Borch-Johnsen K, Pyorala K . Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its relation to all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in nondiabetic European men and women. Arch Intern Med 2004; 164: 1066–1076.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Laaksonen DE, Lakka HM, Niskanen LK, Kaplan GA, Salonen JT, Lakka TA . Metabolic syndrome and development of diabetes mellitus: application and validation of recently suggested definitions of the metabolic syndrome in a prospective cohort study. Am J Epidemiol 2002; 156: 1070–1077.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Lorenzo C, Okoloise M, Williams K, Stern MP, Haffner SM . The metabolic syndrome as predictor of type 2 diabetes: the San Antonio Heart Study. Diabetes Care 2003; 26: 3153–3159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Saito I, Mori M, Shibata H, Hirose H, Tsujioka M, Kawabe H . Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in young men in Japan. J Atheroscler Thromb 2007; 14: 27–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ford ES . Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in US populations. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am 2004; 33: 333–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Misra A, Khurana L . Obesity and the metabolic syndrome in developing countries. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2008; 93: S9–S30.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Nakata Y, Okura T, Matsuo T, Tanaka K . Factors alleviating metabolic syndrome via diet-induced weight loss with or without exercise in overweight Japanese women. Prev Med 2009; 48: 351–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Okura T, Nakata Y, Ohkawara K, Numao S, Katayama Y, Matsuo T et al. Effect of aerobic exercise on metabolic syndrome improvement in response to weight reduction. Obesity 2007; 15: 2478–2484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Christakis NA, Fowler JH . The spread of obesity in a large social network over 32 years. N Engl J Med 2007; 357: 370–379.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Macken LC, Yates B, Blancher S . Concordance of risk factors in female spouses of male patients with coronary heart disease. J Cardiopulm Rehabil 2000; 20: 361–368.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Hur YM, Bouchard Jr TJ, Eckert E . Genetic and environmental influences on self-reported diet: a reared-apart twin study. Physiol Behav 1998; 64: 629–636.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Gorin AA, Wing RR, Fava JL, Jakicic JM, Jeffery R, West DS et al. Weight loss treatment influences untreated spouses and the home environment: evidence of a ripple effect. Int J Obes (London) 2008; 32: 1678–1684.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. McLean N, Griffin S, Toney K, Hardeman W . Family involvement in weight control, weight maintenance and weight-loss interventions: a systematic review of randomised trials. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2003; 27: 987–1005.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. White E, Hurlich M, Thompson RS, Woods MN, Henderson MM, Urban N et al. Dietary changes among husbands of participants in a low-fat dietary intervention. Am J Prev Med 1991; 7: 319–325.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Sexton M, Bross D, Hebel JR, Schumann BC, Gerace TA, Lasser N et al. Risk-factor changes in wives with husbands at high risk of coronary heart disease (CHD): the spin-off effect. J Behav Med 1987; 10: 251–261.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Fujita T . The metabolic syndrome in Japan. Nat Clin Pract Cardiovasc 2008; 5: S15–S18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. The Examination Committee of Criteria for ‘Metabolic Syndrome’ in Japan. Criteria for ‘metabolic syndrome’ in Japan. J Jpn Soc Inter Med 2005; 94: 188–203 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kagawa A . The four-food-group point method. J Kagawa Nutr Univ 1983; 14: 5–12 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Friedewald WT, Levy RI, Fredrickson DS . Estimation of the concentration of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in plasma, without use of the preparative ultracentrifuge. Clin Chem 1972; 18: 499–502.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Matthews DR, Hosker JP, Rudenski AS, Naylor BA, Treacher DF, Turner RC . Homeostasis model assessment: insulin resistance and beta-cell function from fasting plasma glucose and insulin concentrations in man. Diabetologia 1985; 28: 412–419.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Wallace TM, Levy JC, Matthews DR . Use and abuse of HOMA modeling. Diabetes Care 2004; 27: 1487–1495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Japan Science and Technology Agency. Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan. The 4th revised edition Printing Bureau, Ministry of Finance: Tokyo, 1982 (in Japanese).

  25. Rafamantanantsoa HH, Ebine N, Yoshioka M, Higuchi H, Yoshitake Y, Tanaka H et al. Validation of three alternative methods to measure total energy expenditure against the doubly labeled water method for older Japanese men. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol 2002; 48: 517–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Kumahara H, Schutz Y, Ayabe M, Yoshioka M, Yoshitake Y, Shindo M et al. The use of uniaxial accelerometry for the assessment of physical-activity-related energy expenditure: a validation study against whole-body indirect calorimetry. Br J Nutr 2004; 91: 235–243.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Health Promotion and Nutrition Division, Health Service Bureau, Ministry of Health and Welfare. Recommended Dietary Allowances for the Japanese, 5th revision, Dai-ichi Shuppan Co Ltd: Tokyo, 1996, pp 20–24.

  28. Matsuo T, Okura T, Nakata Y, Yabushita N, Numao S, Sasai H et al. The influence of physical activity-induced energy expenditure on the variance in body weight change among individuals during a diet intervention. Obesity Res Clin Pract 2007; 1: 109–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Borg GA . Perceived exertion: a note on ‘history’ and methods. Med Sci Sports 1973; 5: 90–93.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. World Health Organization. Obesity: Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic. WHO: Geneva, Switzerland, 1997.

  31. Goldberg GR, Black AE, Jebb SA, Cole TJ, Murgatroyd PR, Coward WA et al. Critical evaluation of energy intake data using fundamental principles of energy physiology: 1. Derivation of cut-off limits to identify under-recording. Eur J Clin Nutr 1991; 45: 569–581.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Okubo H, Sasaki S . Underreporting of energy intake among Japanese women aged 18–20 years and its association with reported nutrient and food group intakes. Public Health Nutr 2004; 7: 911–917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Wing RR, Hill JO . Successful weight loss maintenance. Annu Rev Nutr 2001; 21: 323–341.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the participants and staff members in the study. The Sodegaura Health Promotion Project, Sodegaura, Chiba, Japan supported this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    T Matsuo, M K Kim, M J Kim, H Ohkubo & K Tanaka

  2. Sodegaura City, 1-1 Sakadoichiba, Sodegaura, Chiba, Japan

    Y Murotake

  3. Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan

    S Numao

Authors
  1. T Matsuo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M K Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Y Murotake
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S Numao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M J Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. H Ohkubo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. K Tanaka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T Matsuo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Matsuo, T., Kim, M., Murotake, Y. et al. Indirect lifestyle intervention through wives improves metabolic syndrome components in men. Int J Obes 34, 136–145 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.226

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.226

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links