Remote nutritional intervention to promote healthy eating practices among Amazonian schoolchildren: a randomized clinical trial

• Grant number: 22/03401-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: August 01, 2022
• End date: April 30, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Nutrition - Nutritional Analysis of Population
• Principal Investigator: Marly Augusto Cardoso
• Grantee: Ana Carolina de Andrade Hovadick
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Saúde Pública (FSP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/00270-6 - MINA study - Maternal and child health in Acre: birth cohort in the Western Brazilian Amazon, AP.TEM

Abstract

Historically, children from Northern Brazil have suffered from stunting and micronutrient deficiencies for a long time. Nonetheless, in the last decades, the prevalence of children with excessive weight gain has increased dramatically in the Amazon Region. In addition, half of northern households experience food insecurity which leads to important decreases in consumption of fresh and local food, and increases of ultra-processed food. However, few effective solutions have been proposed to solve this problem until this moment. In this way, due to the social distance imposed by the emergence of the corona virus pandemic digital interventions based on text messaging have shown to be very promising. The present study aims at investigating the effectiveness of digital interventions based on text messaging to improve healthy eating practices among school-age children who have excessive weight gain history from the conception of content, sending of messages and individual follow-up. A randomized clinical trial, nested in The Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition in Acre (MINA-Brasil) study, will be carried out with 240 school-age children who will be registered for baseline data collection of anthropometric, biochemical and food consumption data. Then, participants will be randomized by means of a stratified sortition according to sex, age and BMI into two groups (intervention and control), which intervention group will receive text messages over a period of 6 months. Subsequently, the same data obtained at the baseline evaluation will be collected again in both study groups Amazon Region. In addition, half of northern households experience food insecurity which leads to important decreases in consumption of fresh and local food, and increases of ultra-processed food. Nonetheless, few effective solutions have been proposed to solve this problem until this moment. In this way, due to the social distance imposed by the emergence of the corona virus pandemic digital interventions based on text messaging have shown to be very promising. The present study aims at investigating the effectiveness of digital interventions based on text messaging to improve eating practices among school-age children who have excessive weight gain history from the conception of content, sending of messages and individual follow-up. A randomized clinical trial, nested in The Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition in Acre (MINA-Brasil) study, will be carried out with 240 school-age children who will be registered for baseline data collection of anthropometric, biochemical and food consumption data. Then, participants will be randomized by means of a stratified sortition according to sex, age and BMI into two groups (intervention and control), which intervention group will receive text messages over a period of 6 months. Subsequently, the same data obtained at the baseline evaluation will be collected again in both study groups. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

HOVADICK, ANA CAROLINA DE ANDRADE; CARDOSO, MARLY AUGUSTO. Family-Based WhatsApp Intervention to Promote Healthy Eating Behaviors Among Amazonian School Children: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR RESEARCH PROTOCOLS, v. 13, p. 12-pg., 2024-01-01. (16/00270-6, 22/03401-5)

HOVADICK, ANA CAROLINA DE ANDRADE; MOREIRA, STEFFANY MARTINS; RODRIGUES, CAROLINE ZANI; DE OLIVEIRA, VALERIA CLARISSE; CARDOSO, MARLY AUGUSTO. Development and cultural adaptation of text messages for promoting healthy eating among Amazonian schoolchildren. APPETITE, v. 206, p. 8-pg., 2024-12-27. (22/03401-5, 22/13550-8)