Effects of dietary interventions and different types of physical activity in sedentary obese adults: a network meta-analysis

Obesity is one of the most important health problems facing society today. Body mass index is an important indicator used to measure the degree of obesity. Sedentary adults are one of the main groups suffering from obesity. This network meta-analysis (NMA) was designed to compare the effects of different training methods and diets on body mass index results in sedentary adult obese patients. PubMed, EBSCO and Web of Science were searched to identify the following:(1) randomized controlled trials (RCTs); (2) the study population means ages 18–65 with overweight and sedentary;(3) Body Mass Index (BMI) > 25 kg/m2;(4) No other diseases that interfere with the weight loss effect. All articles are written in English and published from January 1991 to January 2024. Random-effects NMA models were fitted in a frequentist approach. GRADE framework was used to assess the certainty of evidence. Forty-one RCTs with 3442 participants with obesity were included in this review. The group without dietary control and exercise was used as the baseline. The BMI index was used as the unit. The results of point estimation showed that in the case of dietary control, the best effect was combined training(combine CET and RT, 1.4, 95% CI: 0.53 to 2.3) and the worst was interval training (0.79, 95% CI:-0.86 to 2.4). In the absence of dietary control, the best effect was Hybridge-type training (1.1, 95% CI: 0.23 to 2.0), and the worst was the control group (as the baseline).