Improving Nutrition Habits and Reducing Sedentary Time Among Preschool-Aged Children in Cuenca, Ecuador: A Trial of a School-Based Intervention

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Romo, Matthew L. ; Abril-Ulloa, Victoria
• Description:
  Introduction ; In Ecuador, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among school-age children is more than triple that of preschool-age children; however, preschoolers have not been the target of interventions. ; Methods ; We developed an educational and behavioral intervention that included games, singing, and storytelling. Children were recruited from municipal preschools in Cuenca and were enrolled in the pilot intervention (PI) (N=155) for the 2015–2016 school year, which consisted of a 3-month in-school program. For the 2016–2017 school year, a separate group of children was enrolled in the enhanced intervention (EI) (N=152), which consisted of a 7-month program at both school and home. ; Results ; Parents in both groups reported a post-intervention reduction in their child’s daily at-home consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (PI: −23.2%, P < .001; EI: −16.8%, P < .001). Additional beneficial effects of the EI not observed with the PI were an increase in drinking water daily at home (+8.3%, P = .04) and eating fruits and vegetables daily for snacks at home (+21.8%, P < .001), a reduction in excessive weekend screen time (−7.6%, P = .03), and a reduction of 0.11 in mean BMI-for-age z score (P = .003). When comparing the PI and EI, the EI was associated with a greater difference in mean BMI-for-age z score (−0.25; P < .001) and fruit and vegetable consumption (+15.9%; P = .01). ; Conclusion ; Our preschool-based intervention appeared to be successful in promoting healthy lifestyle habits, especially when combined with a household component. Further research is needed to determine if the intervention had long-term effects, as well as to adapt it for different settings.
• Subjects:
  • Original Research
  • Beverages/adverse effects
  • Child, Preschool
  • Diet, Healthy
  • Exercise
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Female
  • Health Promotion
  • Humans
  • Male
  More +
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 15.
• DOI:
  http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd15.180053
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Pubmed ID:
  30048234
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC6093264
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ecuador
• Location:
  South America
• Volume:
  15
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/58716/cdc_58716_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 415.40 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6dd6f8ace17b4cd087c7b26c6ef000f667584fefb28206b8618e04ac1af99b6cf48dbe0fba383d3fb303b2059b9a64e160459b87a9880ec49e2d426fccedf248