Research
Publications
A collection of our peer-reviewed scientific journal articles.
2026
A randomized controlled trial comparing Noom’s digital weight management program to an educational control found meaningful weight loss outcomes at both 16 weeks and 68 weeks among 427 adults with overweight or obesity.
2026
This narrative review explores how both GLP-1 medications and mindfulness practices reduce “food noise” — intrusive, persistent thoughts about food — by modulating the brain’s default mode network and reward circuits.
2025
Adults enrolled in Noom Weight in an Employer population had significantly lower healthcare utilization, medical and pharmacy costs, and GLP-1 use compared to non-participants over a six-month period.
2025
A three-month study found that people with type 2 diabetes who paired a Bluetooth-connected blood glucose meter with Noom achieved >1% reduction in A1c.
2024
Evaluation of a mobile behavior change program for weight loss in breast cancer survivors
Breast cancer survivors were highly engaged with Noom Weight, which led to clinically significant weight loss, maintenance of an energy-restricted diet, increased physical activity, and improvements in body image and perceived support of weight management.
2023
Noom Weight was shown to be feasible, acceptable, safe and highly efficacious as the program led to significantly greater body weight loss than standard clinical care.
75% of individuals maintained at least 5% weight loss after 1 year, and 49% maintained 10% weight loss. Habitual behaviors, such as healthy snacking and exercise, were associated with greater weight maintenance.
Noom Weight use is associated with lower healthcare resource utilization and costs compared to non-Noom users, with potential cost savings up to $1,219.06 per user at 24 months post-index.
2022
People usually have very unrealistic (high) expectations for how much weight they will lose on a program. In this study, participants’ expectations for their weight loss became significantly more realistic after using Noom. The more they read Noom Weight articles, the more they adjusted their expectations to be more realistic.
In this RCT, participants assigned to use Noom for 4 months had better executive functioning and more executive function-related brain activity than the control condition (which didn’t use Noom).
Goal Language is Associated with Attrition and Weight Loss on a Digital Program: Observational Study
Noomers’ language predicts retention and weight loss on Noom. The more analytical their language (e.g., I must be doing X because of Y), the more they retain and lose weight.
Stress, anxiety, depressive feelings, emotional regulation, and optimism significantly improved after 4 weeks of Noom Mood. The vast majority of participants found Noom Mood to be easy to use, useful and effective, and a program they wanted to recommend to their friends.
Participants reported significant increases in health-promoting behaviors (health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition, spiritual growth, stress management, and interpersonal relations behaviors) from baseline to 6 months on Noom Weight and from baseline to 12 months on Noom Weight.
The belief in obesity as a risk factor at baseline significantly predicted greater engagement in program-measured weight management behaviors over 16 weeks.
Using a machine learning approach and clustering shape-based time series similarities, 5 weight loss trajectories were identified. Overall adherence and early adherence related to self-monitoring emerged as potential predictors of these trajectories.
2021
When COVID-19 started, Noom users ate less fruit and vegetables, but more red meat and starchy vegetables, compared to before COVID-19 began.
Men who were active on Noom for 16 weeks lost significant weight, with 63% achieving clinically significant weight loss. Men reported learning most about practical tips and psychology on Noom and benefiting from having the freedom to eat what they wanted.
From weeks 0 to 16, Noom users’ body positivity and self-compassion significantly improved. These improvements were most related to the psychological content (reading articles and communicating with the coach).
Among those with pancreatic cancer, Noom users showed significantly greater improvements in quality of life and perceived health compared to a control group.
This study developed a machine learning-based predictive model of weight change using an interpretable artificial intelligence algorithm for mobile-based interventions.
The most successful Noom users (in terms of weight loss and engagement) had the highest mental health quality of life, work-life balance, and flourishing (a sense of meaning and purpose in life). The higher users’ anxiety, the less weight they lost.
A random sample of Noom users with no history of cancer lost 7kg by 16 weeks, while Noom users who were cancer survivors lost 5.3 kg during the same time frame.
Weight loss was comparable across Noom users from the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia/New Zealand.
Postpartum Noom users lost a significant amount of weight at weeks 16 and 24. BMI also significantly decreased at week 24.
Greater weight loss on Noom was associated with all types of engagement on Noom, and better weight loss outcomes were associated with greater engagement.
Noom users with greater weight loss reported consuming healthier foods (higher fruit and vegetable intake, better dietary quality) and made healthier food choices at 18 months. Noom users with greater weight loss also adhered more to the food color system.
A novel technique (computerized linguistic analysis) was used to understand Noom users’ emotional journey over time. Noom users used more negative emotion words over time, which was marginally associated with better weight loss. Users with more specific YBPs wrote with more positive emotion than users with more abstract YBPs.
2020
40 patients with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to use Noom or to a control group. Significantly more patients in the Noom group achieved target A1C levels compared to the control group.
In this randomized controlled trial, participants at high risk for (but undiagnosed) metabolic disorders lost significantly more weight and body fat mass with Noom (including coaching) than Noom without coaching or a control group.
Time series analysis was used to look at relationships between logging and weight loss. Logging was associated with weight loss for women but not for men.
In this study, participants were given a monetary reward if they logged their food three times a day. Those who logged three times a day during Noom lost significantly more weight and read more articles and exercised more compared to those who did not log three times a day.
This randomized controlled trial showed that Noom’s Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) resulted in significant weight and BMI reduction at 6 months and 12 months.
Relationship Between Age and Weight Loss in Noom: Quasi-Experimental Study
Noom’s Healthy Weight and Diabetes Prevention Program both resulted in significant weight loss. Healthy Weight users lost 6.24 kg (5.2% body weight) and DPP users lost 5.66 kg (8.1% body weight) by week 52.
Noom plus cognitive behavioral therapy reduced binge eating days and improved remission in adults with binge eating compared to standard care.
Noom with digital cognitive behavioral therapy resulted in significant weight, fat, leptin and insulin resistance, emotional eating, snack calorie intake improvements compared to a control group.
In conjunction with local healthcare treatment, Noom reduced body weight by 2.73 kg, decreased fat mass by 2.65 kg, and significantly increased metabolic equivalent of task (MET) after 8 weeks.
2019
A qualitative study found that coaches trigger reflections on users’ habits, jointly help users determine measurable health goals, facilitate self-evaluations on recent behavior change, and tailor programs to adapt to users’ lifestyle and health status.
In this randomized controlled trial, Noom users with colorectal polyps (a precancerous growth in the colon) lost significantly more weight than individuals who did not use Noom. Engaging with the Noom app significantly increased exercise.
Compared to a control condition, only Noom reduced empty calorie consumption, and total kcal and total fat intake showed larger reductions for Noom in pre-bariatric surgery patients.
2018
Significant weight loss in pre-diabetic Noom users was sustained to 65 weeks, weight loss ranged from 6.15% to 8.98% of body weight.
Air pollution significantly negatively predicted weight loss (the more air pollution, the less weight lost) for a subset of Noom users around the world.
2017
Complementary Support from Facilitators and Peers for Promoting mHealth Engagement and Weight Loss
Perceived support from groups significantly promoted Noom users’ engagement and weight loss.
Efficacy of a mobile hypertension prevention delivery platform with human coaching
A Noom hypertension program significantly improved weight by 3.05 kg, diastolic blood pressure by 5.06 mm Hg, and hypertension category at 24 weeks.
Metabolic risk factors were improved by 15 weeks, and significant weight loss was sustained at one year.
Self-efficacy was positively associated with food logging, which was positively associated with weight loss success. Social support received from the Noom group was related to an increase in food logging and group participation, and group participation was positively associated with weight loss.
Adherence as a predictor of weight loss in a commonly used smartphone application
BMI was reduced in Noom users by 2.59 kg/m². Higher adherence led to higher weight loss.
Effects of climatic variables on weight loss: a global analysis
There was a direct and independent impact of meteorological conditions on intentional weight loss efforts on a global scale.
Noom paired with cognitive behavioral therapy for binge eating significantly reduced bulimic episodes, greater meal and snack adherence, and regular meal adherence compared to traditional guided self-help.
2016
Pre-diabetic Noom users lost significant amounts of weight at 16 weeks (5.65–6.33%) and 24 weeks (6.58–7.50%).
77.9% of over 35,000 participants lost weight while using Noom.