Promoting Healthy Diet, Physical Activity, and Life-Skills in High School Athletes: Results from the WAVE Ripples for Change Childhood Obesity Prevention Two-Year Intervention

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The purpose of this study was to compare changes in diet and daily physical activity (PA) in high school (HS) soccer players who participated in either a two-year obesity prevention intervention or comparison group, while controlling for sex, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Participants (n = 388; females = 58%; Latino = 38%; 15.3 ± 1.1 years, 38% National School Breakfast/Lunch Program) were assigned to either an intervention (n = 278; 9 schools) or comparison group (n = 110; 4 schools) based on geographical location. Pre/post intervention assessment of diet was done using Block Fat/Sugar/Fruit/Vegetable Screener, and daily steps was done using the Fitbit-Zip. Groups were compared over-time for mean changes (post-pre) in fruit/vegetables (FV), saturated fat (SF), added sugar, and PA (daily steps, moderate-to-vigorous PA) using analysis of covariance. The two-year intervention decreased mean added sugar intake (−12.1 g/day, CI (7.4, 16.8), p = 0.02); there were no differences in groups for FV or SF intake (p = 0.89). For both groups, PA was significantly higher in-soccer (9937 steps/day) vs. out-of-soccer season (8117 steps/day), emphasizing the contribution of organized sports to youth daily PA. At baseline, Latino youth had significantly higher added sugar intake (+14 g/day, p < 0.01) than non-Latinos. Targeting active youth in a diet/PA intervention improves diet, but out of soccer season youth need engagement to maintain PA (200).