Teaching healthy habits in elementary school reduces abdominal fat, new study finds

31 Jul 2024 --- Instilling healthy lifestyle habits in elementary school students through classroom activities has been shown to reduce abdominal fat in children, according to new research by the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC), Fundación SHE Science, Health and Education and the la Caixa Foundation.

“The results of this study suggest that interventions promoting healthy lifestyle habits can be more effective at reducing childhood obesity if implemented early, in the first years of elementary school,” says Gloria Santos-Beneit, scientific director of Fundación SHE and first author of the study.

The participants included 1,771 boys and girls from 48 public elementary schools in Madrid. The children were divided into four groups. One group of 12 schools was part of the seven-year-long SI! Program for comprehensive health, which covers emotions management, acquisition of healthy eating habits, active living and knowledge of the body and heart.

“Building on our accumulated experience, this year we have launched a new study assessing the effectiveness of adaptations and extensions of the SI! Program strategy involving reintervention or the use of learning bites during the elementary school cycle,” adds Valentín Fuster, director general of the CNIC and lead author.

“This approach could be even more effective because it places less demands on teachers, who are key figures in this type of school-based health-promotion intervention.” 

In Spain, one in three children is overweight or obese, with vulnerable groups most affected by the issues.

Benefits of an early start
The research team behind the study, published in the Journals of the American College of Cardiology, conducted a series of detailed measurements of cardiovascular health. The measurements took place from when the children were ages six until age 12 to capture measurements as they grew. The measurements consisted of markers of obesity and the accumulation of body fat.

The data was collected at the start of the study, which coincided with the beginning of the participants’ first year of elementary school, and at the end of the third and sixth school year. 

The study finds that the participants who were part of the SI! Program during the first three years of elementary school had less weight gain, smaller increases in body mass index and notably accumulated less abdominal fat than participants in the other groups.

“School is an ideal environment for the implementation of health-promotion programs. But while there have been many programs of this type, not many have been scientifically rigorous and results have often been discouraging or inconclusive,” says Rodrigo Fernández-Jiménez, head of the cardiovascular health and imaging laboratory at the CNIC and an author of the study. 

“But any intervention that improves children’s health will be beneficial if implemented on a large scale, especially given that this type of intervention has no secondary or adverse effects.” 

In Spain, one in three children is overweight or obese, with vulnerable groups most affected by the issues.