Nutrition and Youth Soccer for Childhood Overweight: A Pilot Novel Chiropractic Health Education Intervention
Received 25 July 2007; received in revised form 23 January 2008; accepted 24 February 2008.
Abstract
Objective
The purpose of this pilot novel chiropractic health education intervention was to gather preliminary evidence regarding possible benefits from recreational youth soccer and nutrition education in overweight women. A secondary purpose was to determine whether some nutrition knowledge is an independent predictor of changes in body mass index (BMI).
Methods
A quiz developed and validated on separate age and sex appropriate blinded cohorts was used on study participants—22 volunteers of 57 eligible fourth-grade, overweight female Mississippi public school students. At the beginning of a 5-month study period, a 15-minute baseline nutrition intervention, grounded in Social Cognitive Theory and based on the United States Department of Agriculture's “My Tips for Families” information, was applied in a chiropractic clinic. Subjects were then randomized to 2 months of recreational soccer (n = 14) or waiting list control (n = 8).
Results
No preintervention differences were found in height, weight, BMI, or age. Higher follow-up BMI scores were found in both groups, and no significant differences between groups were found, possibly because of the small sample sizes and the short 8-week soccer intervention period. Gains in nutrition knowledge were sustained (P < .002); however, there was no association between nutrition knowledge and follow-up BMI (r = −.185; P < .462).
Conclusions
Minimal nutrition education alone may be an ineffective intervention for overweight children. The study provides an example of how youth soccer may benefit overweight children.
aDirector, Leach Chiropractic Clinic, Starkville, Miss
bProfessor and Coordinator of Graduate Studies, Department of Health and Kinesiology, Mississippi University for Women, Columbus, Miss
Submit requests for reprints to: Robert A. Leach, DC, MS, Director, 214 Russell St., Starkville, MS 39759
The research was funded through a grant from the Office of the Southern Women's Institute, Columbus, Mississippi, and scholarship funds for economically disadvantaged children to play soccer were provided through grants from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi, Jackson, Miss., and Oktibbeha County Hospital, Starkville, Miss., to a local youth soccer organization.
ABSTRACT