NEW DELHI, India—A multi-component model of nutrition and lifestyle education successfully improved the nutrition-related knowledge, eating habits and lifestyle practices in Asian Indian adolescents, resulting in beneficial changes in anthropometric and biochemical profiles, according to a study published in European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010;64:364-73). Researchers stated the model used should be applied countrywide to prevent obesity and diabetes. In the study, two schools matched for student strength and middle socioeconomic strata were randomly allocated to intervention and control group. Changes in nutrition-related knowledge, attitude, lifestyle practices, food frequency and body image of 11th grade students (15 to 17 years) in both schools were tested using a validated questionnaire.
After six months, significant improvement in several domains of knowledge was observed in intervention children (males=60; females=39) as compared with control school children (males=61; females=41). In the intervention group, a significantly lower proportion of children consumed aerated drinks (15.1 percent; P<0.001) and energy-dense unhealthy foods (8.9 percent), whereas significantly higher proportion brought a packed lunch to school (14.9 percent) and brought a fruit in their packed lunch (30.7 percent) as compared with the control group. A significant decrease in mean waist circumference, sagittal abdominal diameter, waist-to-hip ratio and fasting blood glucose was seen in intervention as compared with control school children.
