Introduction:

Educational interventions in the school environment seem the most effective way to act against childhood obesity. The objectives of this systematic review were to describe the educational interventions on nutrition and / or physical activity carried out in primary school students in order to reduce or prevent childhood obesity and analyze the effectiveness of these interventions.

Methodology:

A bibliographic search was carried out in the WOS and SCOPUS databases. Eligibility criteria were established based on the acronym PICOS: (P) primary school children (6-12 years), (I) studies that will carry out nutrition and / or physical activity interventions in the school setting, (C) not receive any intervention, (O) evaluate the effect of educational programs on childhood obesity, (S) experimental studies, published between 2013 and 2017.

Results and discussion:

571 articles were identified, and finally 22 studies were included. It was found that the most promising interventions were the combined ones. Duration, parental involvement, gender and socioeconomic status can influence the effectiveness of interventions. A shortage of theoretically based interventions was observed.

Conclusions:

The interventions with the best results are the combined ones, with activities included in the curriculum and the participation of the parents. Long-term interventions seem to have better results. These programs help the acquisition of healthy habits and there is some evidence that they are useful in decreasing the Body Mass Index (BMI) or in the prevention of childhood obesity.

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