Preventing Childhood Obesity: A Two-pronged Approach Starting in Pregnancy and the First Year Postpartum

Summary

Our longitudinal aim is to reduce childhood obesity using our two-pronged intervention program, which includes healthy food choices and increased physical activity initiated during pregnancy and re-instated in the early period after delivery for overweight and obese women. We will accomplish this with our family-based Nutrition and Exercise Lifestyle Intervention Program (NELIP) to promote healthy family living. An intervention targeting school-aged children on the importance of healthy lifestyles occurs too late to prevent childhood obesity and establish lifelong healthy body weights. To break this spiraling cycle of generations of unhealthy body weights in Canadian children, and to reduce the risk of future obesity-related health problems, it is necessary to prevent excessive pregnancy weight gain, high blood sugars in the mother and to promote a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy and early post delivery. With our NELIP team as a cornerstone, and our pilot data already collected with promising results, we foresee an opportunity over the next 3 years to contribute to changing patient care with emphasis on disease prevention and healthy family lifestyle initiation early in life to reverse the trend of childhood obesity. With a solid research-based initiative from the lab to the community by educating health care providers, future health care can be improved by putting prevention-based programs into practice.

Healthy women = healthy babies = healthy families = healthy futures!!

Conditions

• Childhood Obesity
• Excessive Weight Gain in Pregnancy With Baby Delivered
• Dietary Modification
• Healthy Lifestyle Habits

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Nutrition & Exercise Lifestyle Intervention Program (NELIP)

Nutrition- individualize total energy intake with a minimum of 2000 kcal/day with a restriction of not more than 33% total energy intake, total carbohydrate of 40-50% total energy intake, total fat intake of 30% of total energy intake (substituting monounsaturated fatty acids for saturated and trans-fatty acids), and approximately 30% dedicated to protein intake. Exercise-25 minutes of walking per session, 3-4 times per week, each subsequent week increasing by 2 mins to a maximum of 40 mins/session. Family-based Behavioural Treatment (FBBT) Coupled with the individualized NELIP for each woman, FBBT will be presented in 3 group sessions (including family members), focussing on strategies to make healthy lifestyle choices with behavioural strategies.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Health Research Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• Western University, Canada

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Michelle F Mottola, PhD · Western University, Canada

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

40 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2009-03-31

Primary Completion

2013-12-31

Completion

2013-12-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations