2021 journal article

Twelve-Month Efficacy of an Obesity Prevention Program Targeting Hispanic Families With Preschoolers From Low-Income Backgrounds

JOURNAL OF NUTRITION EDUCATION AND BEHAVIOR, 53(8), 677–690.

By: S. Hughes *, T. Power *, A. Beck*, D. Betz *, L. Goodell n, V. Hopwood, J. Jaramillo *, J. Lanigan * ...

author keywords: childhood obesity; prevention program; family-based; child eating self-regulation; child fruit and vegetable consumption
MeSH headings : Child; Child, Preschool; Feeding Behavior; Female; Hispanic or Latino; Humans; Mothers; Pediatric Obesity / prevention & control; Poverty
TL;DR: Program effects emphasize the importance of feeding approaches in reducing childhood obesity, with effects on child eating behavior minimal. (via Semantic Scholar)
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 23, 2021

<h2>Abstract</h2><h3>Objective</h3> Assess effects of an obesity prevention program promoting eating self-regulation and healthy preferences in Hispanic preschool children. <h3>Design</h3> Randomized controlled trial with pretest, posttest, 6- and 12-month assessments. Fourteen waves, each lasting 7 weeks. <h3>Setting</h3> Families recruited from <i>Head Start</i> across 2 sites. <h3>Participants</h3> Two hundred fifty-five families randomized into prevention (n = 136) or control (n = 119). <h3>Intervention</h3> Prevention received curriculum; control received no curriculum. <h3>Main Outcome Measure(s)</h3> Feeding knowledge/practices/styles (parent); body mass index percentile, eating self-regulation, trying new foods, and fruit/vegetable consumption (child). <h3>Analysis</h3> Multilevel analyses for nested data (time points within families; families within waves) and multinomial regression. <h3>Results</h3> Program increased mothers' repeated presentation of new foods (<i>P</i> < 0.05), measured portion sizes (<i>P</i> < 0.05), child involvement in food preparation (<i>P</i> < 0.001), feeding responsiveness (<i>P</i> < 0.001), knowledge of best feeding practices (<i>P</i> < 0.001), and feeding efficacy (<i>P</i> < 0.05); reduced feeding misconceptions (<i>P</i> < 0.01) and uninvolved feeding (<i>P</i> < 0.01). Effects on child eating behavior were minimal. At 12 months, children in the prevention group were less likely to have overweight (<i>P</i> < 0.05) or obesity (<i>P</i> < 0.05). <h3>Conclusions and Implications</h3> Program effects emphasize the importance of feeding approaches in reducing childhood obesity.