An Internet-Based Childhood Obesity Prevention Program (Time2bHealthy) for Parents of Preschool-Aged Children: Randomized Controlled Trial

Study answer

What this study found

Intention-to-treat analyses found no significant BMI change between groups at 6 months. Compared with the control, the intervention group reduced discretionary food intake at 3 months (−1.45; 95% CI −2.47 to −0.43; P=.01) and 6 months (−1.30; 95% CI −2.34 to −0.26; P=.02). At 6 months, nutrition self-efficacy was higher (adjusted mean difference 0.53; 95% CI 0.13 to 0.93; P=.01) and parent-reported pressure to eat decreased (−0.35; 95% CI −0.68 to −0.02; P=.04). No other outcomes showed significant group-by-time effects. Authors conclude the program can improve dietary-related practices and…

Study & population

Two-arm parallel randomized controlled trial conducted in Australia (2016-2017).

Key limitation

Not reaching the target sample size, reducing power to detect BMI changes; majority of children were healthy weight at baseline, limiting BMI-change potential in overweight/obese subgroups; 6-month follow-up may be short for BMI changes; attrition (7 lost to follow-up, 1 withdrew); reliance on self-reported dietary…

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Original abstract