Dietary guidance for obese children and their families using a model nutritional balance chart

Abstract

Aim: Childhood obesity has been described as a public health disaster. Nutritional balance is surely one of the key factors to reduce obesity, but successful nutritional education has not been reported yet. In the present study, an easily handled model nutritional balance chart (MNBC) for obese children and their families was investigated. Methods: Twenty-one children received dietary guidance using the MNBC once per month for 6 months. Eight control children did not receive dietary guidance but cooperated in providing data once per month. The effectiveness of the program was judged by changes in nutritional balance, percentage overweight values based on age- and sex-specific standard body weights for height, and responses to questionnaires. Results: The percentage overweight values significantly decreased after 6 months for the intervention group, while the percentage overweight values for the eight control children showed a tendency to increase. Improvement in the nutritional balance was observed for sugar and beans. Most children using the MNBC described paying more attention to their nutritional balance than before. Conclusion: Our guidance method seems to be useful for obese children and their families. © 2007 The Authors.