A Community Guide Systematic Review: School Dietary and Physical Activity Interventions

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Prev Med
• Personal Author:
  Buchanan, Leigh Ramsey ; Wethington, Holly R. ; Finnie, Ramona K.C. ; Mercer, Shawna L. ; Merlo, Caitlin ; Michael, Shannon ; Sliwa, Sarah ; Pratt, Charlotte A. ; Ochiai, Emmeline
• Corporate Authors:
  Community Preventive Services Task Force
• Description:
  Context:
  
  Schools can play an important role in supporting a healthy lifestyle by offering nutritious foods and beverages and providing opportunities for physical activity. A healthy diet and regular physical activity may reduce the risk of obesity. This manuscript reports on a Community Guide systematic review examining the effectiveness of interventions in schools combining school meal or fruit and vegetable snack programs and physical activity.
  
  Evidence acquisition:
  
  Studies meeting the intervention definition were identified from a literature search (search period: January 1990–November 2019). Community Guide systematic review methods were used to assess effectiveness as measured by dietary behavior, physical activity, and weight changes; analyses were conducted in 2020.
  
  Evidence synthesis:
  
  Interventions (n=24 studies) were considered effective for increasing physical activity [median increase 21.8 minutes/day (min/d); interquartile interval (IQI): −0.8 to 27.4 min/d], modestly increasing fruit and vegetable intake (median relative increase of 12.1%; IQI: −4.6 to 73.4%), and decreasing the prevalence of overweight and obesity [median decrease of 2.5 percentage points (pct pts); IQI: −8.1 to −1.6 pct pts] among elementary school students through sixth grade. There were not enough studies to determine effectiveness of interventions for middle and high school students.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  School meal or fruit and vegetable snack interventions combined with physical activity were effective in increasing physical activity, with modest effects for improving fruit and vegetable consumption and reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity among elementary students. These results may inform researchers and school administrators about healthy eating and physical activity interventions.
  
  
• Keywords:
  Child Diet Exercise Fruit Humans Obesity Overweight Schools Vegetables
• Source:
  Am J Prev Med. 64(3):441-451
• Pubmed ID:
  36496280
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC9974744
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  64
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:4d1699b85abb2f913e6fec148f81427d6a331b776ab2c589a7241cd9b3ea93f2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/125208/cdc_125208_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 556.81 KB ]