Research

Energy balance

A high-intensity lifestyle intervention (ILI) delivered by health coaches in primary care significantly improves HDL cholesterol, total:HDL ratio, and metabolic syndrome severity over 24 months, but fasting glucose improvements are transient (significant at 12 months only).

If you have obesity and are seeing a primary care doctor, ask about a structured lifestyle program delivered by a health coach. This study shows that weekly visits for the first 6 months, followed by monthly check-ins, can significantly improve your 'good' cholesterol (HDL) and overall metabolic health over two years. While blood sugar improvements may fade if weight is not maintained, the lipid benefits persist.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Increases in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were greater in the ILI than in the usual care group at both time points... Total:high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and metabolic syndrome severity (z score) decreased more in the ILI group than in the usual care group at both time points... Fasting glucose decreased more in the ILI group compared with the usual care group at 12 months... but not 24 months
Christoph Höchsmann et al. · Circulation · 2021

Why this rating

Cluster-randomized trial with a large sample size (n=803) and long duration (24 months), though delivered in a real-world primary care setting.

Source

Effects of a 2-Year Primary Care Lifestyle Intervention on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

Christoph Höchsmann et al. · Circulation · 2021

DOI 10.1161/circulationaha.120.051328

rct · n=803Cited 51×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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