The majority of adults in the UK and US are overweight or obese due to multiple factors including excess
energy intake. Training people to inhibit simple motor responses (key presses) to high-energy density
food pictures reduces intake in laboratory studies. We examined whether online response inhibition
training reduced real-world food consumption and weight in a community sample of adults who were
predominantly overweight or obese (N ¼ 83). Participants were allocated in a randomised, double-blind
design to receive four 10-min sessions of either active or control go/no-go training in which either high energy
density snack foods (active) or non-food stimuli (control) were associated with no-go signals.
Participants' weight, energy intake (calculated from 24-h food diaries), daily snacking frequency and
subjective food evaluations were measured for one week pre- and post-intervention. Participants also
provided self-reported weight and monthly snacking frequency at pre-intervention screening, and one
month and six months after completing the study. Participants in the active relative to control condition
showed significant weight loss, reductions in daily energy intake and a reduction in rated liking of high energy
density (no-go) foods from the pre-to post-intervention week. There were no changes in self reported
daily snacking frequency. At longer-term follow-up, the active group showed significant reductions
in self-reported weight at six months, whilst both groups reported significantly less snacking at
one- and six-months. Excellent rates of adherence (97%) and positive feedback about the training suggest
that this intervention is acceptable and has the potential to improve public health by reducing energy
intake and overweight.