Trial reportNutrition journal2017
A school-based intervention improved dietary intake outcomes and reduced waist circumference in adolescents: a cluster randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Nutrition journal, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01004367 (ACTIVITAL), which is not on this map. Cited by 27 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
ACTIVITAL: Health Promotion Intervention in Ecuadorian Adolescents to Promote Healthy Dietary and Physical Activity Patterns.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- School-based health and nutrition interventions addressing double burden of malnutrition and educational outcomes of adolescents in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of school-based approaches for reduction of sugar and sugar-sweetened beverages in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Evidence-based dentistry · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of multi-component school food environment interventions on adiposity and food consumption in children and adolescents: systematic review and meta-analysis.Cadernos de saude publica · 2025Pooled it
- Waist circumference as a parameter in school-based interventions to prevent overweight and obesity - a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Interventions to prevent obesity in children aged 12 to 18 years old.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Improving Obesogenic Dietary Behaviors among Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Effect of School-Based Food and Nutrition Education Interventions on the Food Consumption of Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Interventions to Promote Healthy Meals in Full-Service Restaurants and Canteens: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Promoting Healthy Eating among Young People-A Review of the Evidence of the Impact of School-Based Interventions.Nutrients · 2020Pooled it
- Interventions for preventing obesity in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Trial
- Adolescent-Selected Food Intake and Engagement with the External Food Environment Contribute to Unhealthy Diets in Accra, Ghana.Current developments in nutrition · 2026Article
- Community-based interventions to improve adolescent nutrition: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Impact of Intervention Strategies on Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries: A Scoping Review.Food and nutrition bulletin · 2025Article
- Dietary pattern and precocious puberty risk in Chinese girls: a case-control study.Nutrition journal · 2024Article
- Review
- Article
- Effect of School-Based Educational Intervention on Promoting Healthy Dietary Habits in Danish Schoolchildren: The FOODcamp Case Study.Nutrients · 2023Article
- School-based intervention on behavioral intention of adolescents regarding healthy diet in India.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Effect Evaluation ofFrontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Ecuador, adolescents' food intake does not comply with guidelines for a healthy diet. Together with abdominal obesity adolescent's inadequate diets are risk factors for non-communicable diseases. We report the effectiveness of a school-based intervention on the dietary intake and waist circumference among Ecuadorian adolescents.
methodsA pair-matched cluster randomized controlled trial including 1430 adolescents (12-14 years old) was conducted. The program aimed at improving the nutritional value of dietary intake, physical activity (primary outcomes), body mass index, waist circumference and blood pressure (secondary outcomes). This paper reports: (i) the effect on fruit and vegetable intake, added sugar intake, unhealthy snacking (consumption of unhealthy food items that are not in line with the dietary guidelines eaten during snack time; i.e. table sugar, sweets, salty snacks, fast food, soft drinks and packaged food), breakfast intake and waist circumference; and, (ii) dose and reach of the intervention. Dietary outcomes were estimated by means of two 24-h recall at baseline, after the first 17-months (stage one) and after the last 11-months (stage two) of implementation. Dose and reach were evaluated using field notes and attendance forms. Educational toolkits and healthy eating workshops with parents and food kiosks staff in the schools were implemented in two different stages. The overall effect was assessed using linear mixed models and regression spline mixed effect models were applied to evaluate the effect after each stage.
resultsData from 1046 adolescents in 20 schools were analyzed. Participants from the intervention group consumed lower quantities of unhealthy snacks (-23.32 g; 95% CI: -45.25,-1.37) and less added sugar (-5.66 g; 95% CI: -9.63,-1.65) at the end of the trial. Daily fruit and vegetable intake decreased in both the intervention and control groups compared to baseline, albeit this decrease was 23.88 g (95% CI: 7.36, 40.40) lower in the intervention group. Waist circumference (-0.84 cm; 95% CI: -1.68, 0.28) was lower in the intervention group at the end of the program; the effect was mainly observed at stage one. Dose and reach were also higher at stage one.
conclusionsThe trial had positive effects on risk factors for non-communicable diseases, i.e. decreased consumption of unhealthy snacks. The program strategies must be implemented at the national level through collaboration between the academia and policy makers to assure impact at larger scale.
trial registrationClinicalTrial.gov-NCT01004367 .
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.