Promotion of healthy lifestyles to prevent obesity in school children

Abstract All over the world obesity represents a social and medical emergency. The obesity epidemic is particularly alarming in young age, as overweight or obese children and teen-agers are likely to become obese adults. Overweight and obesity in childhood and in adolescence can be ascribed to genetic factors as well as to socio-environmental factors peculiar to the principal contexts of life. All over the world, public institutions are taking action to break this vicious circle. Also in Italy, national, regional and local projects have been developed to favor healthy lifestyles in children, following a prevention model integrating ‘macro’ actions (of political and social nature) with educational interventions directed to the ‘micro’ environment of individual subjects. In this report, we revise the literature in the area of healthy life-style promotion in childhood, focusing on the results of a few Italian programs on the nutritional and physical habits of children. The main purpose was to demonstrate whether interventions aimed at increasing physical activity could produce significant changes in children’s behavior, as well as awareness about the needs of healthy choices in the family.