Nutrition and Physical Activity: General Population (NPA-GP) Systematic Review (2021-22)

Nutrition and Physical Activity: General Population (NPA-GP) Systematic Review (2021-22)

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (Academy) and the American Council on Exercise (ACE) have collaborated to develop a systematic review on the topic of nutrition and physical activity interventions in the general population.

Nutrition and Physical Activity: General Population

Lifestyle behaviors, including nutrition and physical activity, play an important role in the prevention of cardiometabolic and other diseases. However, most adults living in the United States do not meet recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake or physical activity. Providing interventions to adults who are healthy or have cardiometabolic risk factors may prevent or reverse cardiometabolic risk factors. 

A scoping review conducted in 2020 demonstrated that recent, relevant research was available to guide nutrition and exercise practitioners working with adults who were healthy or had cardiometabolic risk factors, such as overweight or obesity. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted to determine the efficacy of nutrition and physical activity interventions in this population on: 

  • Behavioral Outcomes
  • Anthropometric Outcomes
  • Glucose Outcomes
  • Quality of Life and Anxiety/Depression
  • Adverse Events

When possible, sub-group analyses were conducted to determine the influence of intervention components on outcomes of interest. Intervention components examined include: 

  • Practitioner
  • In-person vs remote delivery
  • Individual vs group contacts
  • Number of contacts
  • Study duration
  • Level of nutrition and physical activity interventions

Use the links on the left to access the results of the systematic review.