Effectiveness of a Randomized School-Based Intervention Involving Families and Teachers to Prevent Excessive Weight Gain among Adolescents in Brazil

<div><p>Objective</p><p>To evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based intervention involving the families and teachers that aimed to promote healthy eating habits in adolescents; the ultimate aim of the intervention was to reduce the increase in body mass index (BMI) of the students.</p> <p>Design</p><p>Paired cluster randomized school-based trial conducted with a sample of fifth graders.</p> <p>Setting</p><p>Twenty classes were randomly assigned into either an intervention group or a control group.</p> <p>Participants</p><p>From a total of 574 eligible students, 559 students participated in the study (intervention: 10 classes with 277 participants; control: 10 classes with 282 participants). The mean age of students was 11 years.</p> <p>Intervention</p><p>Students attended 9 nutritional education sessions during the 2010 academic year. Parents/guardians and teachers received information on the same subjects.</p> <p>Main Outcome Measurement</p><p>Changes in BMI and percentage of body fat.</p> <p>Results</p><p>Intention-to-treat analysis showed that changes in BMI were not significantly different between the 2 groups (β = 0.003; p = 0.75). There was a major reduction in the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and cookies in the intervention group; students in this group also consumed more fruits.</p> <p>Conclusion</p><p>Encouraging the adoption of healthy eating habits promoted important changes in the adolescent diet, but this did not lead to a reduction in BMI gain. Strategies based exclusively on the quality of diet may not reduce weight gain among adolescents.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p><p>Clinicaltrials.gov <a href="http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=NCT01046474" target="_blank">NCT01046474</a>.</p>