This German study has evaluated the effectiveness of one-year an obesity prevention program involving children, parents, and teachers on student’s waist circumference.
Method: Children attended 10 health-related lessons, parents and teachers attended two and three educational health-related lessons and
received 10 newsletters on health issues. Daily physical activity, physical fitness and anthropometric data were measured.
Results: A significant reduction in waist circumference was observed for all children. More changes were observed in overweight children. Physical Fitness and physical activity levels increased but not significantly.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that an easy to administer school-based health education program involving children, parents, and teachers can significantly reduce waist circumference in children, particularly those who are overweight.
Source: Siegrist M et al.: Effects of a physical education program on physical activity, fitness, and health in children: The JuvenTUM project. Scand J Med Sci Sports, Sept. 2011.