The epidemic of childhood obesity: Can anything be done?
A policy-based school intervention to prevent overweight and obesity There is no lack of concern about the increasing numbers of children suffering from overweight and obesity, especially as the related development of other cardiovascular risk factors has become clear. Literally hundreds of programs have been developed to address this major public health problem, but very few have been adequately evaluated with hard clinical outcomes. This past year a school intervention based on changes in policy, carried out in grades 4-6 in 10 urban schools, was conducted. The intervention’s design incorporated school self-assessment, nutrition education, nutrition policy, social marketing, and parent outreach. Over a two-year period, this multi-component program led to a 50 percent reduction in the incidence of overweight in the intervention schools compared with the control schools. While there was no reduction in the incidence or prevalence of obesity, these results suggest that carefully designe
