• Ana Carolina Barco Leme, David R Lubans, Paulo Henrique Guerra, Deborah Dewar, Erika Christiane Toassa, and Sonia Tucunduva Philippi.
• Departamento de Nutrição, Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, CEP 01246-904, Brazil. Electronic address: leme.acarolina@usp.br.
• Prev Med. 2016 May 1; 86: 778377-83.

BackgroundSchool-based trials to prevent and reduce prevalence of pediatric obesity in low-income countries are necessary. In Brazil, addressing adolescent obesity is a public health priority.ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of a group randomized controlled trial involving a 6-month multicomponent school-based obesity prevention program targeting adolescent girls.MethodsThe Healthy Habits, Healthy Girls-Brazil program recruited participants (n=253; 16.05±0.05 years) from ten eligible public technical schools in São Paulo, Brazil. The program was adapted from an Australian intervention study, which is based on the Social Cognitive Theory. The primary outcome measure was body mass index (BMI), and secondary outcomes included BMI z score, waist circumference, and various sedentary and dietary health-related behaviours.ResultsAlthough changes in BMI were not statistically significant, differences favored the intervention group (adjusted mean difference, -0.26kg/m(2),se SE=0.018, p=0.076). Statistically significant intervention effects were found for waist circumference (-2.28cm; p=, p=0.01), computer screen time on the weekends (0.63h/day, p; p=0.02), total sedentary activities on the weekends (-0.92h/day, p<0.01), and vegetable intake (1.16servings/day, p=0.01).ConclusionThese findings provide some evidence for the benefit of a school-based intervention to prevent unhealthy weight gain in adolescent girls living in low-income communities.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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