["Adopt a healthy lifestyle..". A motivation program to control risk factors of arteriosclerosis in students]

To reduce coronary heart disease risk factors in children an intervention study among 9-year old students and their 40-year old parents was implemented. 348 subjects were in grade 3 at six elementary schools. All students and some 50% of their parents participated in a comprehensive health instruction and nutrition education program. In addition, an integrated school-based clinic offered facilities to take part in a cholesterol screening activity attracting 89% of students and 50% of parents. As a result, 19% of the students and 51% of the parents whose cholesterol levels exceeded the WHO recommendation of 200 mg/dl were counselled for that reason. Besides that, natural opportunities to lose weight and to reduce fat consumption were trained in an integrated approach. Health knowledge was tested and proved to have increased by 50% at the end of the activities. The programme may reduce chronic disease risk by increased efforts to improve repetition and implementation of health activities.