Background/Objectives: To study the effectiveness of a multi-component intervention model of nutrition and lifestyle education on behavior modification, anthropometry and metabolic risk profile of urban Asian-Indian adolescents in North India. Subjects/Methods: Two schools matched for student strength and middle socioeconomic strata were randomly allocated to intervention and control group. Changes in nutrition-related knowledge, attitude, lifestyle practices, food frequency and body image of eleventh-grade students (15-17 years) in both schools were tested using a validated questionnaire. Anthropometric and biochemical measurements were made using standard methods. Segmental body composition analysis was carried out using an 8-electrode multifrequency bioelectrical impedance method of body fat estimation. Results: At 6 months follow-up, significant improvement in several domains of knowledge was observed in intervention children (n ¼ 99; males ¼ 60; females ¼ 39) as compared with control school children (n ¼ 102; males ¼ 61; females ¼ 41). In the intervention group, significantly lower proportion of children consumed aerated drinks (15.1%; Po0.001) and energy-dense unhealthy foods (8.9%; P ¼ 0.03), whereas significantly higher proportion brought tiffin (packed lunch) to school (14.9%; P ¼ 0.004) and brought a fruit in their tiffin (30.7%; Po0.001) as compared with the control group. Significant decrease in mean waist circumference (P ¼ 0.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) ¼ À2.43,À0.17), sagittal abdominal diameter (Po0.001, 95% CI ¼ À0.82,À0.09), waist-to-hip ratio (P ¼ 0.02, 95% CI ¼ À0.03,À0.004) and fasting blood glucose (P ¼ 0.05, 95% CI ¼ À0.09, 5.00) was seen in intervention as compared with control school children. Conclusions: Multi-component model of nutrition and lifestyle education was successful in improving the nutrition-related knowledge, eating habits and lifestyle practices, and resulted in beneficial changes in anthropometric and biochemical profiles of the Asian Indian adolescents. This model should be applied on countrywide basis to prevent obesity and diabetes.

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Increasing prevalence of childhood obesity calls for comprehensive and cost-effective educative measures in developing countries such as India. School-based educative programmes greatly influence children's behaviour towards healthy living. We aimed to evaluate the impact of a schoolbased health and nutritional education programme on knowledge and behaviour of urban Asian Indian school children. Benchmark assessment of parents and teachers was also done. We educated 40 196 children (aged 8 -18 years), 25 000 parents and 1500 teachers about health, nutrition, physical activity, non-communicable diseases and healthy cooking practices in three cities of North India. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to assess randomly selected 3128 children, 2241 parents and 841 teachers before intervention and 2329 children after intervention. Low baseline knowledge and behaviour scores were reported in 75 -94 % government and 48-78 % private school children, across all age groups. A small proportion of government school children gave correct answers about protein (14-17 %), carbohydrates (25 -27 %) and saturated fats (18-32 %). Private school children, parents and teachers performed significantly better than government school subjects (P,0·05). Following the intervention, scores improved in all children irrespective of the type of school (P, 0·001). A significantly higher improvement was observed in younger children (aged 8-11 years) as compared with those aged 12-18 years, in females compared with males and in government schools compared with private schools (P,0·05 for all). Major gaps exist in health and nutrition-related knowledge and behaviour of urban Asian Indian children, parents and teachers. This successful and comprehensive educative intervention could be incorporated in future school-based health and nutritional education programmes.