Tackling childhood obesity: Requires a shift in social norms, not just an exercise programme

doi:10.1136/bmj.39021.605683.BE

BMJ 2006;333:1031-1032 (18 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39021.605683.BE

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Tackling childhood obesity

Requires a shift in social norms, not just an exercise programme

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Despite heightened interest in preventing obesityin childhood, the evidence base for the effectiveness of localschool based programmes and changes in policy to combat childhoodobesity is poor.¹ ² ³ Evenless research has been devoted to improving nutrition and physicalactivity in preschool and childcare settings, where furtherchallenges exist, such as lack of uniformity between programmesand fragmented oversights by regulatory authorities.¹ ³ Yet increasing evidence shows that preschool practicescan influence the overall energy expenditure of young children.⁴ ^w1

In this issue of the BMJ, Reilly and colleaguesaddress this gap in the literature with a rigorously designed,cluster randomised controlled trial of an intervention to promotephysical activity in 36 Scottish nursery schools.⁵ Body massindex and physical activity were not affected by the interventionat six and 12 months. These results contrast with recent studiesshowing that increasing children's physical activity can reduceweight gain,⁶ ^w2 and that . . . [Full text of this article]

Antronette Yancey

¹ Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health, Box 956900, Los Angeles, CA 90095-6900, USA

ayancey@ucla.edu

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