Preventing Childhood Obesity? Digital Technology May Help Parents: Study Suggests - Video

A study co-led by a Johns Hopkins Children's Center clinician-researcher shows that adding text messaging and other electronic feedback to traditional in-clinic health counseling for parents about feeding habits, playtime and exercise prevents very young children from developing obesity and potentially lifelong obesity-related problems. The findings were published in JAMA.

The current study focused on using digital technology to reinforce elements of the Greenlight Program, which previously only consisted of written materials and health counseling during primary care visits.

The researchers recruited nearly 900 parent-infant. More than 55% were considered to have limited health literacy based on the Newest Vital Sign, a widely used health literacy screening tool developed by researchers at the University of Arizona, and nearly 16% reported household food insecurity, meaning limited access to healthy food choices.

The infant-parent pairs were randomly sorted into two groups. Both groups received Greenlight Program education, with counseling on healthy nutrition and behaviors from their primary care providers, along with eight educational booklets matching the child’s age at regular well visits, with guidance and goal-setting tips in English or Spanish on feeding, physical activity, sleep and screen time.

Next, half (449) of the infant-parent pairs received personalized, interactive text messages from a fully automated system to support health behavior goals and also access to a web-based “dashboard” designed to help parents keep track of healthy goals.

Goals were texted in English or Spanish every two weeks until 2 years of age. Those texts were followed by five automated check-in messages throughout the two weeks. Parents were asked to self-rate their goal progress.

Based on parents’ responses, the automated digital intervention system then provided immediate feedback, tips for addressing challenges and encouragement based on progress.

The researchers found that children of parents who received the digital intervention as well as personal counseling had healthier weight-for-length growth curves over the first two years of life than children of parents who had counseling only, which resulted in an estimated reduction of 0.33 kg/m at the 24-month time point. Also, obesity prevention for the digital group was significant. Some 7% of the digital intervention group had obesity, compared with nearly 13% of the clinic-only group, which is a nearly 45% adjusted relative reduction.

The researchers conclude that their digital intervention led to healthier weight-for-length paths and reduced the incidence of obesity at 2 years of age when added to in-person health counseling. Moreover, they concluded “the intervention effect” occurred as early as 4 months and sustained throughout the two years.

Reference: Heerman WJ, Rothman RL, Sanders LM, et al. A Digital Health Behavior Intervention to Prevent Childhood Obesity: The Greenlight Plus Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. Published online November 03, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.22362