HoldsUp

Ashley Mason

Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UCSF

Ashley Mason is a clinical psychologist and the director of the Sleep, Eating, and Affect Laboratory at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UCSF. Her research focuses on non-pharmacological treatments for depression, insomnia, and eating behaviors, including cognitive behavioral therapy and whole-body hyperthermia. Additionally, her published work examines the application of wearable device metrics to analyze sleep, body temperature dynamics, and physiological health.

31 claims checked on air: 2 context 1 overstated 27 supported 1 unverified

What they said on air - citing their own research

2 citing their own research

1:17:55supportedlowtheir own paperDr. Ashley Mason on Sauna Use for Depression, Conquering Ins

A clinical trial of a mindful eating intervention among overweight women significantly reduced eating in response to cravings.

"Jud and I actually did a trial together where we did a mindful eating intervention for people who said they have way too many cravings that they eat in response to, and these were, the sample was all overweight women. And we gave them this intervention where they had to get curious about their actual behavior, they had to slow down, eat mindfully, and really look at what is the true reward of what they're doing. And we found that people ate in response to their cravings a whole lot less after doing this training." (said at 1:17:55)

A proof-of-concept clinical trial conducted by Mason, Brewer, and colleagues evaluated a 28-day smartphone-delivered mindful eating intervention among 104 adult women with overweight or obesity (mean BMI 31.5 kg/m²). Using ecological momentary assessment, the study found a statistically significant 40.21% reduction in craving-related eating from pre-intervention to one-month post-intervention (p < 0.001), alongside significant reductions in trait food cravings. Certainty is rated low due to the uncontrolled, single-arm study design.

1:18:56supportedmoderatetheir own paperDr. Ashley Mason on Sauna Use for Depression, Conquering Ins

Banning the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages across a workplace campus combined with a brief motivational intervention led to reduced soda consumption over time.

"Dr. Elissa Epel and I published a paper a while ago showing that if you ban the sale of sugary beverages, which we did at UCSF all over the campus, and then you also give people a brief motivational intervention where you show them here's how many sugar cubes are in all the Coke you're drinking on a daily basis, and you give them some information that's kind of this brief motivational interviewing-type stuff, these folks will drink less soda over time." (said at 1:18:56)

The speaker accurately describes a published study conducted by their research team at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The study evaluated the impact of a campus-wide workplace sales ban on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) combined with a randomized trial of a brief motivational intervention among 214 frequent SSB consumers. At follow-up, daily SSB intake decreased significantly across the overall cohort by 48.6% (from 1050 mL to 540 mL per day). Furthermore, participants randomized to receive the brief motivational intervention in addition to the sales ban achieved substantially larger reductions in SSB consumption (mean reduction of 762 mL / 25.4 fl oz) compared to those exposed to the sales ban alone (mean reduction of 246 mL / 8.2 fl oz).

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