The ALINFA Intervention Improves Diet Quality and Nutritional Status in Children 6 to 12 Years Old

Abstract

The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a new nutritional intervention, focused on improving the quality of the diet in children aged 6 to 12 years. A 2-month parallel, controlled randomized trial was conducted in the Spanish child population. The children were randomized to ALINFA nutritional intervention, which consisted of a normocaloric diet that incorporates products, ready-to-eat meals and healthy recipes specifically designed for the study, or a control group, which received the usual advice on healthy eating. The change in diet quality was assessed through the Kidmed index. The secondary outcomes were anthropometry, glucose and lipid profiles, inflammation markers, dietary intake and lifestyle. The participants in the intervention group showed an increase in the mean score of the Kidmed index (p < 0.001). Alongside that, these children decreased their intake of calories (p = 0.046), and total and saturated fat (p = 0.016//p = 0.011), and increased fiber intake (p < 0.001). Likewise, the children in the ALINFA group increased the intake of white fish (p = 0.001), pulses (p = 0.004), whole grains (p < 0.001) and nuts (p < 0.001), and decreased fatty meat (p = 0.014), refined grain (p = 0.008), pastry (p < 0.001), fast food (p < 0.001) and sugar (p = 0.001) intake. Moreover, these children had a significantly decreased BMI (p < 0.001), BMI z-score (p < 0.001), waist circumference (p = 0.016) and fat mass (p = 0.011), as well as leptin (p = 0.004). Participants in the control group did not report significant changes in diet quality. In conclusion, ALINFA nutritional intervention is possibly a useful strategy to increase the diet quality in children, which is associated to improvements in the nutritional status. These results highlight the importance of developing well-designed nutritional interventions.

Improving Children’s Lifestyle and Quality of Life through Synchronous Online Education: The Nutritional Adventures School-Based Program

“…Longer durations have been associated with positive outcomes [19], with research suggesting a minimum of 40-50 classroom hours [45], six months [46], or even 12 months for longterm changes in children's dietary habits and attitudes [19]. Nevertheless, several studies, including ours, have demonstrated that even brief interventions that can easily be incorporated into school curriculums can impact nutritional knowledge [19,21] and dietary behaviors [13,20,21]. Identifying the ideal duration should involve comprehensive planning considering the desired effect, cost-effectiveness, volume of material, and likelihood of achieving beneficial outcomes [47].…”

“…Nevertheless, the role of parental involvement in education should not be undermined. Many interventions call for the involvement of parents in the educational process [13,21]. Parental involvement is often achieved with homework assignments [12,19,57], active participation in educational activities [14,21], training sessions curated specifically for the parents [21], newsletters [58], and many more activities.…”

“…Since many of these approaches are relatively recent, it is imperative to investigate their long-term effects and compare them with traditional educational methods. Assessing enduring changes in dietary habits is a key outcome, but researchers should also consider improvements in other areas that are often affected, such as HRQoL, mental health, and behavioral changes within families [13][14][15][16][17]73]. Researching the sustainability of these changes and communicating this knowledge to health professionals and game developers are crucial steps [71].…”

“…According to the guide by WHO, educational programs should be child-centered, promoting active participation, with a planned curriculum that is appropriately designed for the different developmental stages [10]. Successful in-person school initiatives, with some incorporating digital components, have been implemented in multiple countries [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. However, there is a limited presence of research on initiatives that are primarily based on delivering nutrition education sessions through digital platforms.…”

A literature review of evidence for primary prevention of overweight and obesity in healthy weight children and adolescents: A report produced by a working group of the Danish Council on Health and Disease Prevention

“…In school-aged children, interventions taking a rather innovative approach have been conducted, such as school-based gardening, 93 gamification strategy to nutrition and physical activity, 94 or interventions delivered by class-room teachers. 95 However, only few studies conducted in school-aged children have found intervention effects (for example, other works [94][95][96] ), and the majority of studies have shown no effects of the intervention (for example, previous studies 93,[97][98][99][100][101][102][103] ).…”