Written by Hannah Harp
Spoon Feed
Children whose families received a digital (text and web-based) intervention had significantly lower rates of obesity at 24 months of age.
Like taking candy from a baby
The obesity crisis is real and getting worse. Infant obesity predicts adult obesity and CV-related mortality, so intervening as early as possible would theoretically prevent more CV-related morbidity and mortality. Interventions are also easier to implement at this age, as parents have near-complete control over nutrition.
This randomized clinical trial evaluated adding a digital health behavior intervention to pediatric health behavior counseling for preventing childhood obesity. The study included 900 racially and ethnically diverse parent-child pairs across six U.S. medical centers, comparing a clinic-only group with a clinic-plus-digital-intervention group featuring tailored text messages and a web dashboard.
Over 24 months, the digital intervention group demonstrated lower weight-for-length trajectories (−0.33 kg/m; 95%CI −0.57 to −0.09) and reduced obesity prevalence by 44% using CDC criteria. Limitations included reliance on self-reported data, variability in implementation, and was limited only to English- or Spanish-speaking families, so the results aren’t all-encompassing.
Overall, this trial showed the effectiveness of a low-cost intervention aimed at reducing rates of obesity in infants and toddlers.
How does this change my practice?
I’m ready to gain access to this text message and dashboard-based program! Can’t wait for some follow-up data.
Source
A Digital Health Behavior Intervention to Prevent Childhood Obesity: The Greenlight Plus Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2024 Dec 24;332(24):2068-2080. doi: 10.1001/jama.2024.22362. PMID: 39489149
