Retraction: Strategies for the prevention and control of obesity in the school setting: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

The authors hereby retract the e-publication dated July 31, 2007, entitled, 'Strategies for the prevention and control of obesity in the school setting: systematic review and meta-analysis,' and are submitting a revised version with the same title. A secondary review of the manuscript took place following its initial acceptance, resulting in additional statistical analyses along with some pertinent revisions to the accompanying narrative.

School randomised trial on prevention of excessive weight gain by discouraging students from drinking sodas

“…Overweight and obesity, defined using the BMI cutoffs proposed by Cole et al . (2000) ( 16 ) , was also examined, since some studies have found changes in body mass following intervention only among those overweight at baseline, and mainly among girls ( 6 , 8 ) . Underweight was defined based on WHO (1995) criteria ( 17 ) .…”

“…For obesity prevention many programmes have been tested among schoolchildren. Usually, these programmes have multiple focuses, including physical activity and nutritional behaviours, and most of them have attained good results in educating children on these issues ( 6 , 7 ) , but with little or no effect on weight change ( 7 , 8 ) . On the other hand, a randomised trial with British schoolchildren with a focus on reduction of carbonated sodas showed a statistically significant and clinically relevant reduction in the weight gain in the experimental group compared with controls ( 9 ) .…”

“…The result of the British study ( 9 ) is particularly important for developing countries, since it was based only on sugar-sweetened carbonated beverages. The result of this intervention can be more appealing for public health programmes compared with the usually more successful school interventions, which are comprehensive in nature ( 8 ) and harder to be implemented in most countries.…”