A multi-faceted health promotion scheme in schools may help tackle excess weight gain among 12 to 13 year-olds, a Dutch study has found.
Dr. Marijke Jeannette Maidy Chin A Paw, of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, and colleagues examined whether a school-based multi-component health promotion intervention for Dutch adolescents would influence body composition and aerobic fitness.
Eighteen secondary schools participated in the study (10 in the intervention group and eight in a comparison group), which included 978 adolescents who were an average of 12.7 years old.
The intervention program consisted of a curriculum adapted for 11 biology and physical education lessons that focused on calories consumed and calories burned. Activity options were also offered, including additional physical education classes and changes in school lunchrooms, to encourage changes in behaviour. The authors collected data at the beginning of the programme and after eight months.
Statistically significant reductions in waist-to-hip ratio were seen in the intervention group for boys and girls. The researchers also observed a statistically significant favourable effect on the sum of skinfold measurements for girls in the intervention group.
“The increase in aerobic fitness was somewhat larger in the intervention group among both boys and girls, but this finding was not statistically significant,” the team report.
“Well planned moderate physical activity and nutritional alterations to the school curricula may contribute to the prevention of excessive weight gain among adolescents,” they conclude.
Follow us on
