Suchergebnisse

The Obesity Reduction and Awareness of Non-communicable disease through Group Education (ORANGE) Phase II program, is a school-based intervention aimed at healthy lifestyle practices for sixth and seventh grade adolescents (n = 2345) attending private (n = 1811) and government (n = 534) schools in Chennai. The objectives of this paper are (a) to describe the intervention activities and their outcomes qualitatively and (b) to report changes in body mass index (BMI) of the intervention group participants. This intervention strategy used a teacher-peer-training model in each school for long-term sustainability of the lessons learned from this program. During each intervention session, teachers led a classroom discussion on the health topic of interest, and peers facilitated small-group learning activities. Anthropometric measurements of participants were assessed pre- and post-intervention. We found government school students perceived hygienic actions (e.g., drinking clean water, taking baths daily) as healthy habits for preventing diabetes, whereas private school students associated an expensive lifestyle (e.g., eating at restaurants, riding a car) with diabetes prevention. Overall, the mean post-intervention BMI (18.3 kg/m2) was in the normal range compared to the pre-intervention BMI (17.7 kg/m2) (p < 0.0001). These results suggest that future interventions should be tailored for adolescents from different socio-economic groups while acknowledging their varied perceptions.

India has the second largest number of people with diabetes in the world following China. Evidence indicates that consumption of whole grains can reduce risk of type 2 diabetes. This manuscript describes the study design and methods of a trial in progress evaluating the effects of substituting whole grain brown rice for polished (refined) white rice on biomarkers of diabetes risk (glucose metabolism, dyslipidemia, inflammation). This is a randomized controlled clinical trial with a crossover design conducted in Chennai, India among overweight but otherwise healthy volunteers aged 25–65y with a body mass index ≥23kg/m2 and habitual rice consumption ≥200grams/day. The feasibility and cultural appropriateness of this type of intervention in the local environment will also be examined. If the intervention is efficacious, the findings can be incorporated into national-level policies which could include the provision of brown rice as an option or replacement for white rice in government institutions and food programs. This relatively simple dietary intervention has the potential to substantially diminish the burden of diabetes in Asia and elsewhere.