ArticleEndocrine connections2020
Mindfulness affects stress, ghrelin, and BMI of obese children: a clinical trial.
Article in Endocrine connections, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mindfulness-based interventions for improvement of lifestyle behaviors and body mass index in children with overweight or obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic review of the efficacy of yoga and mindfulness in the management of pediatric obesity.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Weight-neutral interventions in young people with high body mass index: A systematic review.Nutrition & dietetics : the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia · 2023Pooled it
- Interventions to Treat Obesity in Mexican Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrition reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation modulates stress-induced plasma ghrelin levels: A double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled trial.Journal of affective disorders · 2023Trial
- Virtual EMO-Mind: Exploring the Benefits of Virtual Mindfulness for Heart Rate Variability and Emotional Skills in Young Students.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2026Article
- Article
- "Pilot intervention study: food and nutrition education and psychoeducation among elementary school students in grades 4 to 6".Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Obesity as a Multifactorial Chronic Disease: Molecular Mechanisms, Systemic Impact, and Emerging Digital Interventions.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Ghrelin in Depression: A Promising Therapeutic Target.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- [The Medical Nutrition Research Unit: towards the new challenges of translational research].Revista medica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social · 2025Article
- The relationship between anxiety and cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescents with obesity: propensity scores.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Article
- Psychological well-being and the reversal of childhood overweight and obesity in the UK: a longitudinal national cohort study.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2024Article
- Research progress on the role of mindfulness in intervention for adolescent obesity.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Review
- Evidence Base Update on Behavioral Treatments for Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents.Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53 · 2023Review
- Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version of the Brief-Mindful Self-Care Scale: A Translation and Validation Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- The Good, the Bad and the Unknown Aspects of Ghrelin in Stress Coping and Stress-Related Psychiatric Disorders.Frontiers in synaptic neuroscience · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Childhood obesity is associated with stress. However, most treatment strategies include only dietary and physical activity approaches. Mindfulness may assist in weight reduction, but its effectiveness is unclear. We assessed the effect of mindfulness on stress, appetite regulators, and weight of children with obesity and anxiety. A clinical study was conducted in a pediatric hospital. Eligible children were 10-14 years old, BMI ≥95th percentile, Spence anxiety score ≥55, and who were not taking any medication or supplementation. Participants were assigned to receive an 8-week conventional nutritional intervention (CNI) or an 8-week mindfulness-based intervention plus CNI (MND-CNI). Anthropometry, body composition, leptin, insulin, ghrelin, cortisol, and Spence scores were measured at baseline and at the end of the intervention. Anthropometry was analyzed again 8 weeks after concluding interventions. Log-transformed and delta values were calculated for analysis. Thirty-three MND-CNI and 12 CNI children finished interventions; 17 MND-CNI children accomplished 16 weeks. At the end of the intervention, significant reductions in anxiety score (-6.21 ± 1.10), BMI (-0.45 ± 1.2 kg/m2), body fat (-1.28 ± 0.25%), ghrelin (-0.71 ± 0.37 pg/mL), and serum cortisol (-1.42 ± 0.94 µg/dL) were observed in MND-CNI children. Changes in anxiety score, ghrelin, and cortisol were different between groups (P < 0.05). Children who completed 16 weeks decreased BMI after intervention (-0.944 ± 0.20 kg/m2, P < 0.001) and remained lower 8 weeks later (-0.706 ± 0.19 kg/m2, P = 0.001). We concluded that mindfulness is a promising tool as an adjunctive therapy for childhood obesity. However, our findings need confirmation in a larger sample population.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.