Nutrition and health canteen-based lifestyle intervention: association with weight management, lipid metabolism regulation, and inflammation alleviation in middle-aged adults

Background – Lifestyle interventions can prevent and manage non-communicable diseases (NCDs); however, they are not easy to implement in daily life. Nutrition policy-based interventions with both high impact and feasibility are needed for NCD prevention and control. Methods – This single-group before–after study was conducted for 12 weeks in a collective catering setting, where the construction of a nutrition and health canteen, proposed by the Reasonable Diet Action, is currently underway in China. The intervention for participants comprised a multifaceted approach featuring rich food diversity, a reduced supply of salt/sugar/oil, and structured health education on both diet and physical activity. The primary outcome was the change in body weight after the intervention. Demographic data, food frequency questionnaire results, and anthropometric data were also collected. Blood biochemical indicators and inflammatory biomarkers were also measured. Results – A total of 97 participants (33 women) were included in this study. Of the 43 individuals (44.3%) who were overweight, 8 (8.4%) were obese. After the intervention, the body weight of participants significantly decreased [74.00 (61.05–81.6) kg vs. 72.35 (58.83–80.15) kg, p < 0.001]. The secondary outcomes also showed a trend toward benefit, including body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (p < 0.05). In particular, indicators of lipid metabolism, such as triglycerides [1.17 (0.78–1.70) mmol/L vs. 1.12 (0.74–1.87) mmol/L, p_FDR = 0.047], low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, 2.76 ± 0.70 mmol/L vs. 2.58 ± 0.62 mmol/L, p_FDR = 0.041), and apolipoprotein B (0.83 ± 0.20 g/L vs. 0.78 ± 0.18 g/L, p_FDR = 0.045) slightly decreased, whereas HDL cholesterol (1.32 ± 0.33 mmol/L vs. 1.37 ± 0.34 mmol/L, p_FDR = 0.044) increased. However, total cholesterol, blood pressure, insulin, glucose, and HOMA-IR did not differ after the intervention. Notably, the levels of inflammatory biomarkers, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, and hs-CRP decreased markedly after the intervention. Conclusion – The nutrition and health canteen strategy may be a feasible approach for implementing lifestyle interventions to promote body weight control, improve lipid metabolism, and reduce inflammation in middle-aged adults. Further studies, especially randomized controlled trials with longer terms, are warranted.