Childhood obesity is a common health problem. Treating it involves changing eating habits, increasing exercise, and supporting new behaviors.
Research shows that children’s diet plans should focus on how much and what types of food they eat. These plans should last at least three months and be intensive to work well. However, there aren’t enough studies testing these intense diet plans in everyday home settings over long periods, highlighting the need for more research.
A new study from the University of Gothenburg scientists aims to investigate the effects of a usual lifestyle treatment through counseling combined with healthy recipes and subsidized meal boxes for the whole family.
They found that healthy recipes and subsidized meal boxes can go a long way in helping child obesity.
For this study, scientists enrolled 89 children aged 5–15 from the Pediatric Obesity outpatient Clinics in Halland, Sweden. Participants were randomly assigned to receive lifestyle treatment with or without Family Meals on Prescription (FMP), which consists of a subsidized prepacked grocery bag, including recipes and provisions for five Family Meals per week for three months.
54 children and their families formed the intervention group and received lifestyle treatment and meal boxes. The remaining 35 children and their families formed the control group and received lifestyle treatment through counseling only.
Families received meal boxes with recipes and prepacked ingredients for five dinners each week for three months. The goal was to follow the Swedish Food Agency’s dietary recommendations and to involve the whole family in cooking at home.
Scientists examined children’s BMI at 3, 12, and 18-24 months. It also asked if the meal boxes with chosen ingredients would be practical and liked by the families.
Lovisa Sjögren, a Pediatric Researcher at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and a Pediatrician at Halland Hospital Halmstad and Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital in Gothenburg, said, “Many people report that it is difficult to cook varied meals from scratch and to have meals together as a family, but this proved to be a tolerable method. The meal box intervention was not perceived as stressful or intrusive and fights over food shopping, and meals were reduced.”
During the three months of using meal boxes, obesity rates dropped more in those families, suggesting that involving the whole family in diet changes can be effective. However, at 18-24 months, the biggest BMI reduction was in children whose families only received lifestyle treatment.
According to Lovisa Sjogren, Family Meals on Prescription (FMP) with subsidized meal boxes could be established similarly to Physical Activity on Prescription (PAP) with subsidized exercise activities.
She said, “There is a belief that counseling can change eating habits, but studies show that in practice, this is difficult. With this study, we show a workable alternative, although we believe the intervention should be longer. There are now new pharmacotherapies to treat Obesity during childhood. However, before initiating pharmacotherapy, we should identify the children for whom a more intensive dietary intervention may be effective.”
Journal Reference:
- Torstensson, T., Bohlin, A., Almqvist-Tangen, G. et al. Family meals on prescription as treatment for childhood obesity—a randomized controlled trial. Eur J Pediatr (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s00431-024-05744-8
