Effects of SuperFIT, an overweight-prevention intervention approach, on pre-schoolers' dietary intake: a pilot study

SuperFIT aims to improve the dietary and physical activity behaviour of children (2-4 years) in the Dutch childcare and home setting. Healthy parenting practices, policies, and availability of materials, fruits, and vegetables were promoted over the course of a year. This pilot study, with a quasi-experimental design, examined the effectiveness of children's intake of fruits, vegetables, water, and sweet beverages. Families attending intervention preschools could participate in the partial (preschool) or full (preschool + home) intervention. Parental 24-hour recalls assessed the child's diet at baseline and two follow-ups. Data from 81 control and 88 intervention children was included in a three-level hierarchical logistic regression. The full intervention showed significantly favourable effects for sweet beverages (B = -1.85, P < 0.05) and unfavourable effects for vegetables (B = -1.94, P < 0.05), compared to the control between the second follow-up and baseline. No significant effects were found for fruit or water, nor for the partial intervention. More research in a larger sample is needed to confirm current findings.