Health and nutrition education in primary schools in Crete: 10 years' follow-up of serum lipids, physical activity and macronutrient intake

The current study is a 4-year follow-up after the 6-year-long health and nutrition intervention programme applied in the primary schools of Crete. The aim of the current work was to identify whether the benefits obtained in certain health indices at the end of the intervention period were also present 4 years later. From a representative population of 441 pupils (250 from the intervention schools and 191 from the control schools), biochemical, dietary and physical activity data were obtained at baseline, at the end of the intervention period and after intervention (academic years 1992- 1993, 1997-1998 and 2001-2002, respectively). The findings of the current study revealed that the favourable changes in serum lipids observed at the end of the intervention period were maintained from baseline to after intervention for total cholesterol (-24-3 (SE 1.65) v. -9.70 (SE 2.03) mg/dl; P = 0-001), LDL-cholesterol(-18.6 (SE 1-41) v. -2.49 (SE 1.75) mg/dl; P < 0-001), HDL-cholesterol (-8-34 (SE 0.75) v. -9-60 (SE 1-10) mg/dl; P = 0-014) and total cholesterol :HDL-cholesterol ratio (0.31 (SE 0.06) v. 0.04 (SE 0.05); P = 0001). Similar favourable changes for the intervention group were observed in leisure-time physical activities (38.3 (SE 11-7) v. -13.2 (SE 10.9) min/week; P = 0.038) and BMI (6-05 (SE 0.18) v. 6.67 (SE 0-21) kg/m(2);P = 0.014), whereas no changes were observed in the fitness and dietary indices examined. The findings of the current study are encouraging, indicating maintenance of the favourable changes observed in serum lipids, BMI and physical activity 4 years after the programme had ended.