Children obesity in Mexico has become a public health problem, 9.7% of preschool children are overweighed or obese. A nutrition program was developed in 7 sessions for children and 7 sessions for their parents, it included eating habits (EH) and physical activity (PA). To evaluate the impact of the education program 626 preschool children from 6 public schools in three different locations: rural, urban and semi‐urban participated in a controlled longitudinal study. The nutrition program was implemented in 3 schools, one of each location, the remaining schools were controls. Before and after 6 months of intervention, anthropometry measures (weight, height and waist) were taken and 2 validated questionnaires (EH and PA) were answered by one parent. Complete data was obtained from 491 preschoolers and 205 questionnaires were collected from parents. Anthropometry changes were similar between groups. Only children from the semi‐urban school had a smaller waist to height change [‐0.71(‐1.16,‐0.26)] than the children in control school [0.42(‐0.61,1.44)] (p<0.05). The EA and PA score was improved in children from the intervention schools compared with control schools [EH:0.59(0.16,1.44),‐0.27(‐0.81,0.27), respectively; PA:0.83(.34,1.33), ‐1.14(‐1.67,‐0.60),respectively] (p<0.05).Children from the urban intervention school improved PA more than the control school. Children from the rural intervention school improved their EH more than the control school. In conclusion the nutrition education program did not show clear effect in anthropometry after 6 months, however, there was an impact in EH and PA. Parents participation is required to have a better impact on such programs. . .
Grant Funding Source: FOMIX‐CONACYT2012
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