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Effect of Time-Varying Exposure to School-Based Health Promotion on Adiposity in Childhood
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Excess weight affects almost one of every three children in Spain, particularly those in more vulnerable social groups. #ChildhoodObesity #ExcessWeight #medindia’
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The conclusions are clear: early intervention to promote healthy habits in elementary school children can be more effective than interventions at later stages. Excess weight affects almost one of every three children in Spain, particularly those in more vulnerable social groups. #ChildhoodObesity #ExcessWeight #medindia’
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Healthy Habits: Start Early to Burn Belly Fat
The study included 1771 boys and girls attending 48 public elementary schools in the Comunidad de Madrid. The schools were divided into 4 groups. One group of 12 schools conducted a health-promotion intervention throughout the six years of elementary school; the intervention covered emotions management, acquisition of healthy eating habits, active living, and knowledge of the body and heart (SI! Program–Comprehensive Health). Another two groups conducted the same intervention but only for three years, one group during the first three years and the other group in the final three years. The forth group did not conduct any specific health-related intervention.Throughout the study, a series of detailed measurements of cardiovascular health were obtained from the participants as they grew from 6 to 12 years old. The measures included markers of obesity and the accumulation of body fat.
The measurements were obtained at the start of the study, coinciding with the beginning of the first year of elementary school, and then at the end of the third and sixth school year.
The main results show that participants who were exposed to the intervention during the first three years of elementary school had less weight gain, smaller increases in body mass index, and markedly less accumulation of abdominal fat than participants in the other groups.
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Tackling Childhood Obesity
“The results of this study suggest that interventions promoting healthy lifestyle habits can be more effective at reducing childhood obesity if implemented early, in the first years of elementary school,” said Gloria Santos-Beneit, Scientific Director of Fundación SHE and first author on the study.Advertisement
References:
- Effect of Time-Varying Exposure to School-Based Health Promotion on Adiposity in Childhood - (https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2024.04.065)
Source-Eurekalert