Childhood and Adolescent Obesity Prevention: From Evidence to Implementation in Complex Systems

Childhood and adolescent obesity has emerged as one of the most pressing public health challenges worldwide. The persistence of excess weight from early life into adulthood together with its associated health consequences underscores the importance of effective prevention strategies. However, obesity in early life is driven by complex interactions between biological susceptibility, lifestyle behaviours, social determinants, and obesogenic environments, making prevention particularly challenging.This review synthesises current evidence on childhood obesity prevention, critically examines the effectiveness of existing interventions, and discusses key challenges and opportunities for improving their impact. Evidence indicates that preventive strategies can improve dietary habits, physical activity, and other lifestyle behaviours, although their effects on anthropometric outcomes are generally modest. Interventions addressing multiple determinants and involving key settings such as families, schools, and communities appear more likely to achieve meaningful and sustained effects.Translating evidence from controlled studies into effective, scalable real-world strategies remains a major challenge. Contextual factors, sustainability, stakeholder engagement, and policy support play a critical role in determining intervention success. In this context, systems-oriented and participatory approaches offer promising opportunities to design coordinated, multilevel strategies. Future efforts should focus on early-life prevention, equity-oriented actions, and the integration of scientific evidence into public policies to achieve sustainable population-level impact.