• Fengming Wang, Ping Zhang, Yanling Ren, Daochao Huang, Fenglin Xu, Jun Ma, Shunqing Luo, and Xiaohua Liang.
• Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Chongqing 400016, China.
• Prev Med. 2024 Feb 1; 179: 107785107785.

BackgroundThe impact of increased fruit consumption on weight change remains a matter of debate.ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the effects of interventions targeted at promoting fruit consumption and managing body weight in children and adolescents.MethodsFour electronic databases, including PubMed, Web of science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library, were searched from January 1, 2000, to October 10th, 2023, to identify Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed changes in fruit consumption and obesity indicators.ResultsA total of 22 trials including 12,678 participants who met our inclusion criteria were selected for this review. The meta-analysis demonstrated that the interventions increased fruit intake (MD = 78.58 g/day (95% CI 53.09 to 104.07), P < 0.001) in children and adolescents. The mean reduction of body mass index was 0.27 kg/m2 (95% CI -0.59 to 0.05 kg/m2, P = 0.101). And no significant decreases were observed in body mass index-z scores, but there was a significant decrease in waist circumference (MD = -0.65 cm (95% CI -1.15 to -0.05 cm), P < 0.05). Increased fruit intake was shown to be associated with a lower prevalence of obesity when compared to the control group (odds ratio [OR]: 0.74, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.90), P < 0.05).ConclusionsThis meta-analysis provided evidence that interventions aimed at increasing fruit consumption were effective at reducing obesity prevalence.Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.

14 keywords...

hide…