Creación y desarrollo de programas de educación nutricional y de promoción de la actividad física para población pedriática

Abstract

Introduction Obesity is currently the most common nutritional problem in industrialized countries as well as high comorbidity shows in short and long term, becoming one of the most serious public health problems of the XXIst century. According to WHO, in 2012 there were 42 million overweight children worldwide. Of these, 35 million live in developing countries. Spain is not strange to the problem. From PAIDOS in 1984, the first study, to ENKID in 2000, the second one, the prevalence of obesity increased from 5 to 15%. Aladdin study, conducted in 2011, stood at 31.4% prevalence of overweight (17.6% of child obesity) in Spain in children aged 6 to 9 years. In 2012, according to a survey conducted by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, 25.9% of boys and 31.6% girls aged between 2 and 5 years old showed no physical exercise. These figures improved among the population aged 6 to 10, where 7.9% of boys and 12.7% girls claimed not to perform any kind of physical exercise. In Catalonia, in 2013, 28.8% of the population aged 6 to 14 years old had participated every day or almost every day of the month in physical activities or sports games, in contrast to 20.9% who did not participate any day or almost any day. Research content Given the great health impact of obesity, it is imperative to create specific programs for the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity on the integrated work of professionals from various fields. Numerous publications have shown that changing habits is a valid strategy and should be the main tool to fight against overweight and obesity in children. Intervention programs should be aimed at promoting healthy habits from nutritional education and physical exercise. The message of these programs should be understandable and achievable proposal, thereby increasing membership. The overall objective of this thesis was the creation and development of nutritional education (INFADIMED) and promoting physical activity (ACTIVA’T) programs to influence on the prevalence of overweight children. Conclusion At the beginning of the INFADIMED study, the prevalence of excessive weight (overweight + obesity) in 3-to 7-year-old children in Villafranca del Penedès was 21.9%. The INFADIMED population was divided in a control group with a 20.8% prevalence of excessive weight and an intervention group with a prevalence of 22.9%. Three years later, at the end of the intervention program, the prevalence of excessive weight increased in the control group by 8.4 points (29.2%), while decreased by 6.3 points (16.6 %) in the intervention group. In the ACTIVA’T study, the population was also divided into two groups, one that received nutritional education and performed physical exercise more than 5 hours a week for six months, and the other group received the same nutrition education and performed within 3 hours a week in the same period. The first group decreased their prevalence of excessive weight, demonstrating the important role that physical activity plays in the excessive weight. In a subpopulation of the study ACTIVA’T, the lipid profile also improved substantially after 6 months of diet and exercise program. In both studies, the nutritional education program increased the adherence to the Mediterranean Diet of the participants. The results indicated a mainly positive effect on breakfast habits and also an increased on fruit and vegetable consumption.