Journal article
Large reductions in child overweight and obesity in intervention and comparison communities 3 years after a community project
B Swinburn, M Malakellis, M Moodie, E Waters, L Gibbs, L Millar, J Herbert, M Virgo-Milton, H Mavoa, P Kremer, A de Silva-Sanigorski
PEDIATRIC OBESITY | WILEY | Published : 2014
Abstract
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT: Childhood obesity has been increasing over decades and scalable, population-wide solutions are urgently needed to reverse this trend. Evidence is emerging that community-based approaches can reduce unhealthy weight gain in children. In some countries, such as Australia, the prevalence of childhood obesity appears to be flattening, suggesting that some population-wide changes may be underway. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: A community-based intervention project for obesity prevention in a rural town appears to have increasing effects 3 years after the end of the project, substantially reducing overweight and obesity by 6% points in new cohorts of children, 6 y..
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Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge all primary schools, principals and school staff, parents and students for their contributions to this study. This study was principally funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council project grant (479510) with original BAEW funding coming from the Victorian Department of Health and VicHealth. Associate Professor Marj Moodie, Associate Professor A. de Silva-Sanigorski and Dr L. Gibbs gratefully acknowledge salary support from an NHMRC Obesity Prevention Capacity Building Grant. Professor E. Waters, Dr L. Gibbs and Associate Professor A. de Silva-Sanigorski also gratefully acknowledge salary and infrastructure support from the Jack Brockhoff Foundation. Dr M. Haby, S. Morgan, K. Green, J. Hedditch from the Victorian Department of Health and many stakeholders in the Barwon-SW region gave valuable feedback on this study's findings.