- Noom is a digital (app for iOS and Android) DPP program featuring personal guidance from live coaches.
- Users can choose plans focused on distinct goals, including weight loss, diabetes prevention, and – in the near future – hypertension.
- Noom claims an average weight loss of 18 pounds, with significant loss sustained at 4 years.
- The app markets to businesses/employers who are billed on an outcomes basis, paying only for participants who lose 5% of their body weight or more.
Summary
Noom is an entirely app-based Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) (available for iOS and Android) that delivers individual health and weight loss plans, including personal coaching.[1] Noom stands out for its measured, demonstrated outcomes, something that is rare among its peer app-based DPPs, most of which are relatively new. According to Noom’s website, participants lost an average of 18 pounds lost, with sustained weight loss for 4 years.[2] Additionally, sixty-four percent of participants lost at least 5% of their body weight,[3] the threshold for meaningful diabetes risk reduction according to the original DPP study. Noom is designed to adapt to each participant’s progress and experiences—goals are eased during difficult periods and advice is customized to anticipate upcoming challenges. Noom also offers programs goal-specific to different goals. In addition to its standard weight loss program, it offers a diabetes prevention-specific program that focuses its education on carbohydrates and their impact on insulin response.[4] In other words, Noom works to provide a diabetes-specific concept of healthy eating, delivered as an app-based DPP through regular lessons and coaching.
Why It Stands Out
Noom distinguishes itself from many digital competitors by offering separate plans for people with different goals: one for weight loss and another more directly targeted at diabetes prevention (a third plan for hypertension is in the works).[5] In other words, Noom works to provide a general tool for healthier living as well as one customized for those at highest risk for diabetes. Improved understanding of risk-stratification in prediabetes could potentially be beneficial in maximizing Noom’s impact by determining who might be best directed to which program. Lastly, Noom charges based on outcomes for its diabetes-focused programs. Businesses that work with Noom will only pay for participants who demonstrate at least 5% weight loss.
- “Noom,” 2016, https://www.noom.com.
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