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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
A family-centered lifestyle intervention to improve body composition and bone mass in overweight and obese children 6
Tamara R Cohen, Tom J Hazell, Catherine A Vanstone
1School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, Montreal, QC H9X 3V9, Canada. hope.weiler@mcgill.ca.
Insights
This study investigated a family-centered lifestyle intervention for obese children, focusing on nutrition and physical activity. The intervention aims to reduce adiposity while improving bone and lean muscle mass, offering new insights for childhood obesity management.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Nutritional Science
- Exercise Physiology
Background:
- Childhood obesity is linked to musculoskeletal issues and increased fracture risk.
- Family-centered approaches are crucial for sustained lifestyle changes in children.
- Existing interventions lack focus on improving bone and lean mass alongside adiposity reduction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate a 1-year family-centered lifestyle intervention for overweight/obese children.
- To assess the intervention's impact on body composition, including bone and lean muscle mass.
- To determine if the intervention favorably alters eating and activity behaviors.
Main Methods:
- Randomized controlled trial involving children aged 6-8 years.
- Intervention includes individualized nutrition, physical activity (PA), and sedentary behavior counseling.
- Primary outcome: changes in body mass index Z-scores; secondary outcomes: body fat, lean mass, bone mass, dietary intake, and behavior.
Main Results:
- This section is not available in the provided abstract.
Conclusions:
- The family-centered intervention allows for comprehensive biochemical and physiological assessments.
- The trial will determine the intervention's effectiveness in reducing adiposity and enhancing lean and bone mass.
- Successful outcomes could provide novel strategies for managing childhood obesity.
Background:
Childhood obesity gives rise to health complications including impaired musculoskeletal development that associates with increased risk of fractures. Prevention and treatment programs should focus on nutrition education, increasing physical activity (PA), reducing sedentary behaviours, and should monitor bone mass as a component of body composition. To ensure lifestyle changes are sustained in the home environment, programs need to be family-centered. To date, no study has reported on a family-centered lifestyle intervention for obese children that aims to not only ameliorate adiposity, but also support increases in bone and lean muscle mass. Furthermore, it is unknown if programs of such nature can also favorably change eating and activity behaviors. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of a 1 y family-centered lifestyle intervention, focused on both nutrient dense foods including increased intakes of milk and alternatives, plus total and weight-bearing PA, on body composition and bone mass in overweight or obese children.
Methods/Design:
The study design is a randomized controlled trial for overweight or obese children (6-8 y). Participants are randomized to control, standard treatment (StTx) or modified treatment (ModTx). This study is family-centred and includes individualized counselling sessions on nutrition, PA and sedentary behaviors occurring 4 weeks after baseline for 5 months, then at the end of month 8. The control group receives counselling at the end of the study. All groups are measured at baseline and every 3 months for the primary outcome of changes in body mass index Z-scores. At each visit blood is drawn and children complete a researcher-administered behavior questionnaire and muscle function testing. Changes from baseline to 12 months in body fat (% and mass), waist circumference, lean body mass, bone (mineral content, mineral density, size and volumetric density), dietary intake, self-reported PA and sedentary behaviour are examined.
Discussion:
This family-centered theory-based study permits for biochemical and physiological assessments. This trial will assess the effectiveness of the intervention at changing lifestyle behaviours by decreasing adiposity while enhancing lean and bone mass. If successful, the intervention proposed offers new insights for the management or treatment of childhood obesity.
Trial Registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01290016.
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