School based program to promote lifestyle changes to prevent overweight in elementary school children.

The study was a quasi-experimental randomized cluster controlled trial during a period of 2 years. The intervention group (group1) was conformed by 1 public and 1 private school, with 7 class groups in total, the control group (group 2) was conformed by 1 public and 1 private school with 6 class groups in total. There were no statistical differences between the two groups in BMI, BMIz-score. During the first phase, all components of the intervention were developed and implemented to the intervention group (group1). The study’s intervention consisted of three components: 1) school board and teachers, 2) classroom curriculum, and 3) parent involvement. The intervention approach was based in the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model. The educational component was designed to be interdisciplinary. Nutrition and physical activity professionals interacted with parents, children, and teachers. Its purpose was to show how food choices and physical activity depend on personal behavior, individual health and school and family environment. The classroom curricula for 2nd and 3rd grades were designed to promote healthful eating behaviors and to increase physical activity. One 30-min interactive lesson was delivered by nutrition graduate students each week for 8 weeks during the academic year. The objective of the interactive children sessions was to encourage children to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, to enroll in sports and play activities, to reduce the consumption of soda and snacks with a high fat and sugar content, and to lower the number of hours of TV viewing. This component also included the assessment of dietary intake and physical activity. Four 60-minute sessions were delivered to school board and teachers by nutrition and PA professionals to discuss healthy lifestyles. Several meetings took place to discuss how to improve school meals and snacks offered in the cafeteria, and also on how to improve PA installations and offer PA activities during and after school. The aim of the parents’ involvement component was to introduce them to the intervention program and to receive nutrition education and extend their knowledge on healthy lifestyle and eating behaviors. The parents’ component consisted of a 60-minute session delivered by nutrition professionals each month for 4 months during the academic year. After the six months the control group Group 2 received the intervention program. In phase 2 :For the intervention and control group a follow-up program was continued for another 18 and 12 months respectively. The follow-up program consisted in a 30 min weekly session for the semester with classroom activities to promote fruit and vegetable consumption and PA and decresease soda and non healthy snack consumption.