Effectiveness of a Kindergarten-Based Intervention for Preventing Childhood Obesity.

Pediatrics conducted a pilot study over 12 months in Guangzhou, China, aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of a multifaceted intervention for preschool children and to provide an assessment of the efficacy. The study involved 648 children, who underwent a 3-component intervention (training of staff, initiating a healthy curriculum and close collaboration with families) while the other cohort consisted of 336 children, who received routine health care and acted as the control.

By 12 months, children within the intervention group had a smaller BMIz score increase (0.24) compared to the control (0.41), the prevalence of overweight or obesity was also lower among the intervention group at the end of the study. These results add further weight to the argument that multi-component health behaviour intervention might be the most effective in reducing the burden of obesity.