Peer-reviewed article
Impact of a home-based obesity prevention intervention on children's eating behaviours: Findings from the Guelph Family Health Study randomised controlled trial.
Raphaëlle Jacob, Kathryn Walton, Andrea C Buchholz, Gerarda Darlington, Alison M Duncan et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This randomised controlled trial tested whether a 6-month home-based obesity prevention intervention would change eating behaviours in preschool-aged children. The study followed 384 children aged 3–5 years over 18 months, measuring eating behaviours at baseline, after the intervention, and one year later. The intervention did not significantly change children's eating behaviours compared to the control group, though some behaviours like emotional overeating and food fussiness naturally increased over time across both groups. The findings suggest that home-based lifestyle interventions alone may not be sufficient to influence young children's eating behaviours.
Key points
- The intervention had no significant impact on children's eating behaviours compared to controls
- Emotional overeating and food fussiness increased over time in both groups
- Desire to drink, emotional undereating, and slowness in eating decreased over time across both groups
- 20.2% of the sample was at risk for overweight/obesity and 8.2% had overweight/obesity at baseline
- The authors recommend future interventions should focus explicitly on eating behaviours in addition to lifestyle behaviours
Limitations
The study relies on parent-reported data for eating behaviours, which may be subject to bias or recall error. The findings are from a specific population and setting (Guelph, preschool-aged children), which may limit generalisability to other contexts or age groups.
Abstract
Children's eating behaviours are important determinants of childhood obesity; however, few studies have examined whether early childhood obesity prevention interventions influence these behaviours. This study investigated the impact of a home-based obesity prevention intervention on children's eating behaviours. The Guelph Family Health Study is a randomised controlled trial of a 6-month obesity prevention intervention focused on establishing healthful household routines among 285 families with preschool-aged children. A total of 384 children (3.5 ± 1.3 years old, 50.3% girls, 20.2% at risk for overweight/obesity, 8.2% with overweight/obesity) were included in the analyses. Children's eating behaviours were assessed using the parent-reported Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and one year after the end of intervention (18 months from baseline). No significant group by time interactions were observed, indicating that the intervention had no significant impact on children's eating behaviours compared to controls. Significant time effects were observed for many eating behaviours. Irrespective of study groups, emotional overeating and food fussiness increased over time, while desire to drink, emotional undereating, and slowness in eating decreased over time. This study showed that, compared to controls, a home-based lifestyle obesity prevention intervention did not influence preschool-aged children's eating behaviours. Future studies should assess whether focusing on eating behaviours in addition to lifestyle behaviours improves the efficacy of childhood obesity prevention interventions and could help prevent the development of obesity-associated eating behaviours in preschool-aged children.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- 6-month home-based obesity prevention intervention focused on establishing healthful household routines
- Population
- 285 families with preschool-aged children (384 children, mean age 3.5 ± 1.3 years, 50.3% girls; 20.2% at risk for overweight/obesity, 8.2% with overweight/obesity)
Key finding
No significant group by time interactions were observed for children's eating behaviours
Jacob et al. · PubMed (US National Library of Medicine) · 3 Jun 2026