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ABSTRACT: The current review aimed to systematically identify dietary, physical activity and
sedentary behaviours in preschool children (4–6 years of age) that are prospectively
related to overweight or obesity later in childhood. Prospective studies
published between January 1990 and June 2010 were selected from searches in
PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Cochrane Library. Studies examining
the prospective association between at least one relevant behaviour measured
during preschool period (children aged 4–6 years at baseline) in relation to
at least one anthropometric measurement at follow-up (age <18 years) were
included. Harvest plots were used to summarize the results and draw conclusions
from the evidence.
Of the 8,718 retrieved papers, 23 papers reporting on 15 different study samples
were included in this review. Strong evidence was found for an inverse association
between total physical activity and overweight. Moderate evidence was
observed for a positive association between television viewing and overweight.
Because of the heterogeneity in the assessed dietary behaviours, insufficient evidence
was found for an association between dietary intake or specific dietary
behaviours and overweight. These results suggest that interventions aiming to
prevent overweight among preschool children should focus on promotion of
total physical activity and limitation of screen time and that further research is
needed to establish whether and which dietary behaviours are important for
obesity prevention in this age group. However, despite the lack of evidence for
dietary behaviours from the present review, future interventions may already
target specific dietary behaviours that are highly prevalent and for which there a
clear rationale as well as preliminary evidence that these behaviours are associated
with overweight.
Obesity Reviews 03/2012; 13(Supplement 1):56-74. · 7.04 Impact Factor
