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ABSTRACT
Background: Children’s overweight and obesity have increased in Western societies, including Israel. Childhood is an important time for shaping healthy habits. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a healthy lifestyle intervention on health knowledge, behavior, and anthropometric measurements. Methods: A total of 396 fifth- and sixth-grade children, from 2 religious and 2 secular schools, participated in a nonrandomized controlled trial during the 2011–2012 school year. Intervention group were given an extensive educational program focusing on eating habits and physical activity. Results: Overweight and obesity decreased significantly within the intervention group (from 25% to 17.9%, P = .04), without a significant change in the control group (from 20.5% to 17.6%, P = .12). Religious children had double the risk of being overweight or obese (odds ratio [OR] = 2.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15–3.73; P = .02). Knowledge was improved in both study groups (P < .01), with no difference in health behavior scores at the beginning (P = .59) or end (P = .36) of the year. Discussion: Health Education during fifth and sixth grades improved children’s weight and health knowledge but not healthy behavior. Translation to Health Education Practice: School-based healthy lifestyle educational programs are important for primary prevention and weight management.
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Disclosure of conflict of interest
The study was sponsored in part by the MOFET Institute, Israel: A Center for the Research, Curriculum and Program Development in Teacher Education. The study sponsor did not have any role in the study design, writing of the article, or the decision to submit the article for publication. No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this article.