Effect of a Single Nutritional Intervention Previous to a Critical Period of Fat Gain in University Students with Overweight and Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: the present study aimed to investigate the effects of a single nutritional preventive session previous to a critical period linked to fat gain in university students with overweightness and obesity, emulating a nutritional session of a public health system. Methods: In this single-blind randomized controlled trial, 23 students met all the criteria to be included (20.91 ± 2.52-year-old; 52.2% women) who were divided into two groups: intervention group (IG) and control group (CG). Fat mass (FM) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), physical activity by accelerometry, feeding evaluation through three questionnaires, and a set of healthy lifestyle recommendations were evaluated before and after the national holidays (NH). Results: Our findings showed that FM increased significantly in the CG, but not in the IG (CG = 428.1g; IG = 321.9g; D = 106.2g; p = 0.654 [95% CI = −379.57, 591.92]). However, no differences were found during the NH between them (Hedges’ g effect size = 0.19; p = 0.654). In addition, no statistical differences were observed between groups in feeding evaluations, the set of recommendations performed, and physical activity. Conclusion: a single preventive session before a critical period, using a similar counselling approach as used in the public health system, might not be enough to promote changes in eating and physical activity patterns and preventing fat gain in overweight/obese university students. Long-term interventions are a must.

The effect of Tabata-style functional high-intensity interval training on cardiometabolic health and physical activity in female university students

“…Although there have been multiple interventions aimed at improving university students' lifestyles (Brown et al, 2014;Soriano-Ayala et al, 2020), PA levels (Sharp and Caperchione, 2016;Chiang et al, 2019;Heeren et al, 2018), or dietary habits (Lhakhang et al, 2014;Castillo et al, 2019;Whatnall et al, 2019;Hernández-Jaña et al, 2020), their effectiveness varied widely (Plotnikoff et al, 2015). This may be attributed to the absence of practice in most interventions.…”

¿Cuánto cambia la composición corporal después de las vacaciones de fiestas patrias en estudiantes universitarios con sobrepeso y obesidad?

“…Respecto a la actividad física, una revisión sistemática identificó a los estudiantes universitarios como una población insuficientemente activa, donde las barreras que predominan son la falta de tiempo e interés 21 . Sin embargo, a pesar de que durante las VFP existe mayor disponibilidad de tiempo libre, los estudiantes universitarios reducen los niveles de actividad física de intensidad moderada a vigorosa (p=0,003 [IC 95%= −35,13; −9,57]) y, además, disminuyen la cantidad de pasos diarios (p=0,011 [IC 95%= −4929,88; −828,33]) 9 . Una reducción de la actividad física a corto plazo, como durante un período crítico, puede generar modificaciones en la composición corporal y la salud metabólica 23,24 .…”

“…Además de lo anterior, durante el año, los estudiantes están expuestos a diversos "periodos críticos" vinculados a un aumento anormal del peso corporal y porcentaje de grasa 8,9 . Estos periodos se podrían definir como cortos periodos de tiempo (díassemanas) en los que se evidencia una disminución significativa en los niveles de actividad física y un aumento de la ingesta calórica 8 .…”

Sustainable Diets, A Way to Improve and Maintain Eating Behaviors and Health in Times of COVID-19 in First-Year University Students

“…The COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the return to their countries of origin [26], living away from home (residing on the university campus during the pandemic) [16], economic difficulties, the low availability of certain foods at the beginning of and during the confinement, the restricted mobilization, among other limitations triggered by the pandemic [27], plus the variable of a lower social class, were predictable and could influence the group with interventions considerably. This may be partly due to the time of intervention and the methods of intervention used [19,[28][29][30].…”