Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Decreasing Fat and Sugar Intake in Families at Risk for Childhood Obesity

TLDR

The study evaluated whether a parent‑focused behavioral intervention could alter eating habits and reduce overweight in families with an obese parent and a non‑obese child. Families were randomized to receive a comprehensive weight‑control program that encouraged parents to increase fruit and vegetable intake or reduce high‑fat/high‑sugar foods, while child materials promoted the same dietary changes without caloric restriction. After one year, the fruit‑and‑vegetable group increased healthy food consumption, decreased high‑fat/high‑sugar intake, and achieved greater reductions in parental overweight compared to the high‑fat/high‑sugar group, indicating that emphasizing healthy foods can drive nutritional change.

Abstract

Abstract Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of a parent‐focused behavioral intervention on parent and child eating changes and on percentage of overweight changes in families that contain at least one obese parent and a non‐obese child. Research Methods and Procedures: Families with obese parents and non‐obese children were randomized to groups in which parents were provided a comprehensive behavioral weight‐control program and were encouraged to increase fruit and vegetable intake or decrease intake of high‐fat/high‐sugar foods. Child materials targeted the same dietary changes as their parents without caloric restriction. Results: Changes over 1 year showed that treatment influenced targeted parent and child fruit and vegetable intake and high‐fat/high‐sugar intake, with the Increase Fruit and Vegetable group also decreasing their consumption of high‐fat/high‐sugar foods. Parents in the increased fruit and vegetable group showed significantly greater decreases in percentage of overweight than parents in the decreased high‐fat/high‐sugar group. Discussion: These results suggest that focusing on increasing intake of healthy foods may be a useful approach for nutritional change in obese parents and their children.