Effects of a 2-year healthy eating and physical activity intervention for 3-6-year-olds in communities of high and low socio-economic status: the POP (Prevention of Overweight among Pre-school and school children) project

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a school-based, 2-year, multi-component intervention on BMI, eating and physical activity behaviour in Flanders, Belgium, targeting children aged 3-6 years in communities of high and low socio-economic status (SES). Design: Cluster-randomized controlled trial. Setting: Thirty-one pre-primary and primary schools in three different intervention communities and three paired-matched (on SES profile) control communities in Flanders, Belgium. Subjects: BMI Z-scores at baseline and follow-up were calculated for 1102 children. Questionnaires with sociodemographic data and FFQ were available from 694 of these 1102 children. Results: No significant effects were found on BMI Z-scores for the total sample. However, there was a significant decrease in BMI Z-score of 0.11 in the low-SES intervention community compared with the low-SES control community, where the BMI Z-score increased by 0.04 (F = 6.26, P = 0.01). No significant intervention effects could be found for eating behaviour, physical activity or screen-time. There were no significant interaction effects of age and gender of the children on the outcome variables. Conclusions: Although no significant effects were found for BMI Z-scores in the total sample, this intervention had a promising effect in the low-SES community of reducing excess weight gain among young children.