Developing interventions targeting obesity reduction in preschoolers is an emergent area. Although intensive, multicomponent interventions seem a promising approach to preschool obesity reduction, this review identifies and discusses approaches to 3 critical gaps (poor reach to families from low-income and minority backgrounds, lack of sufficient evidence to determine the most effective and efficient treatment components and approaches to treating obesity in early childhood, and lack of consensus on how best to discern intervention effectiveness) that need to be addressed to advance the preschool obesity literature.
Key points
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Nearly one-quarter of preschoolers are overweight or obese, with persistent disparities among those from low-income and minority backgrounds.
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Developing interventions effective at obesity reduction in early childhood is imperative given the immediate physical and psychosocial health consequences of excess weight gain and its persistence to adulthood if not addressed.
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Poor reach to families from low-income and minority backgrounds, insufficient evidence to determine the most effective and efficient treatment components and approaches to treating obesity in early childhood, and lack of consensus on how best to discern intervention effectiveness are 3 critical gaps in the preschool obesity treatment literature.
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Addressing these gaps is imperative to eliminating preschool obesity disparities and reducing the overall prevalence of obesity in early childhood.
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