OBJECTIVE:To assess the impact of a 6 months nutrition education and physical activity intervention on primary school children through changes in adiposity and physical fitness. DESIGN: Longitudinal school-based controlled evaluation study. SUBJECTS: Children from 1st to 8th grade, 2141 in intervention and 945 in control schools. INTERVENTION: Nutrition education for children and parents, 'healthier' kiosks, 90 min of additional physical activity (PA) weekly, behavioral PA program and active recess. MEASUREMENTS: Adiposity indices (BMI, BMI Z-score, triceps skinfold thickness (TSF), waist circumference and physical fitness (20 m shuttle run test and lower back flexibility). RESULTS: Positive effect on adiposity indices (except TSF) was observed in boys (Po0.001 for BMI Z), while both physical fitness parameters increased significantly in both boys (Po0.001 for each test) and girls (Po0.0001 for each test). A differential effect in BMI Z was observed according to baseline nutritional status. CONCLUSIONS: This intervention showed a robust effect on physical fitness in both genders and decreased adiposity only in boys.

Objective: Obesity prevalence among Chilean children is 19?4 %. The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a school-based obesity prevention programme. Design: Non-randomized controlled study. The intervention included activities in nutrition and physical activity, fully applied the first year and partially in the second one. Primary outcomes were BMI Z-score (BMIZ) and obesity prevalence; secondary outcomes were waist circumference and triceps skinfold thickness. Time effects were assessed by changes in BMI-related variables by gender and period (ANOVA and Tukey test), while intervention effects were determined by comparing changes in (i) obesity prevalence by gender and period (PROC GENMOD) and (ii) BMIZ according gender, age and period (PROC MIXED). Setting: Primary schools in the Chilean cities of Casablanca (intervention group) and Quillota (control group). Subjects: One thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine children from three schools (intervention group) and 671 from one school (control group). Results: Over the two years, obesity prevalence and BMIZ declined significantly in the intervention group; from 17?0 % to 12?3 % and 14?1 % to 10?3 % in boys and girls, respectively, and from 0?62 to 0?53 and 0?64 to 0?58, respectively. In the control group, obesity remained stable at about 21 % and 15 %, while BMIZ increased significantly in the second year. BMIZ declined in both genders and all age categories in the intervention group during the first year (significant only in younger boys). No changes occurred during the summer, while during the second year, BMIZ increased in boys and girls from both groups (significant only in the younger control boys). Obesity declined significantly only in boys during the first year. Conclusion: Effectiveness was greater in the first school year and more evident in younger boys. KeywordsPrevention School-based Childhood obesity ChileIn Chile, the prevalence of obesity has risen sharply since the early 1980s (1) and especially in young children, whose obesity rates have increased from 7?0 % in 1987 to 18?5 % in 2005 (2) . This can be attributed to multiple factors linked to the nutrition transition which affect both energy intake and physical activity (3,4) . During the 1980s and 1990s, income more than doubled and poverty dropped by 50 %. Mean energy intake increased, especially among the urban poor. On the energy output side, sedentarism linked to urbanization increased significantly; presently, 87 % of the population live in urban areas and about 90 % are classified as sedentary. The Ministry of Health acknowledged in 1997 the need to address obesity prevention by establishing a national health promotion programme (Vida Chile) with specific goals at each stage of the life course. For children, the goals are to reduce obesity at school entry (6 years of age), using WHO criteria (5) , from 16 % observed in the 2000 baseline to 12 % by the year 2010; and to reduce sedentary behaviour in those 15 years of age and older from 91 % to 84 % (6) .To achieve thes...

No abstract

No abstract

Rev Panam Salud Publica 41, 20171 Este es un artículo de acceso abierto distribuido bajo los términos de la licencia Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO, que permite su uso, distribución y reproducción en cualquier medio, siempre que el trabajo original se cite de la manera adecuada. No se permiten modificaciones a los artículos ni su uso comercial. Al reproducir un artículo no debe haber ningún indicio de que la OPS o el artículo avalan a una organización o un producto específico. El uso del logo de la OPS no está permitido. Esta leyenda debe conservarse, junto con la URL original del artículo. Existe consenso acerca de que los enfoques de intervención individual no son suficientes para mejorar conductas de la población (1). Así, la noción de ambiente alimentario (AA) ha ganado espacio en la literatura que estudia la conducta alimentaria (CA), al constituir un factor fundamental que interviene, mediante la facilitación o la obstaculización, la elección y el consumo de alimentos (2-4). De esta forma, la conducta de un individuo solo puede orientarse a realizar elecciones alimentarias saludables si cuenta con un ambiente con disponibilidad y acceso a los alimentos (2, 5).Entonces, estudiar los AA se vuelve imperante, para comprender cómo las conductas individuales son condicionadas por contextos mayores y para orientar intervenciones nutricionales colectivas implementadas en el nivel local, regional o nacional. De esta manera, la elaboración de modelos conceptuales integradores, con pertinencia nacional, permite comprender RESUMEN Objetivo. Describir una propuesta de modelo conceptual para sistematizar los factores que condicionan los ambientes alimentarios y la forma en que estos se expresan en la conducta alimentaria de la población chilena. Métodos. Estudio realizado en Chile que incluyó cuatro etapas secuenciales e iterativas Palabras claveAmbiente; conducta alimentaria; determinantes sociales de la salud; Chile.