Stabilization of overweight prevalence and improvement of dietary habits in French children between 2004 and 2008.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of the present study was to describe changes in overweight and obesity prevalence and eating habits among 7·5-10·5-year-old children in Aquitaine (France) between 2004 and 2008, and to assess how the programme 'Nutrition, Prevention and Health of children and teenagers in Aquitaine' implemented in 2004 may have impacted these changes.

DESIGN
Two cross-sectional studies were conducted in two samples of children: the 'before programme' sample during the school year 2004/2005 and the 'after programme' sample during the school year 2008/2009. Settings Data were collected on gender, age, weight, height, area of residence (rural/urban) and socio-economic status of the school (non-low socio-economic/low socio-economic). Multivariate analyses were used to assess the effect of the regional programme intervention on the evolution of overweight and obesity prevalence and eating habits independently.

SUBJECTS
The 'before programme' sample included 1836 children from 163 schools during the school year 2004/2005 and the 'after programme' sample included 3483 children from 210 schools during the school year 2008/2009.

RESULTS
After adjustment of the model for age, residential area and socio-economic status of the area of residence, the prevalence of overweight including obesity (OR=1·05; 95 % CI 0·89, 1·23, P=0·56) and of obesity (OR=0·99; 95 % CI 0·71, 1·39, P=0·96) was found to have stabilized and eating habits had improved: intake of light afternoon meals had increased (OR=1·38; 95 % CI 1·13, 1·69, P=0·002) while snacking in the morning (OR=0·50; 95 % CI 0·45, 0·57, P<0·001) and nibbling (OR=0·81; 95 % CI 0·70, 0·93, P<0·001) had decreased.

CONCLUSIONS
These results encourage the promotion and implementation of regional and national interventions among children regarding their eating habits in order to stabilize or decrease the prevalence of overweight.