Primary prevention of overweight in preschool children, the BeeBOFT study (breastfeeding, breakfast daily, outside playing, few sweet drinks, less TV viewing): design of a cluster randomized controlled trial

Background: Two overweight prevention interventions were developed to be offered by preventive Youth Health Care (YHC) in addition to the currently applied overweight prevention protocol to parents of 0-3 year old children. The two interventions aim to support parents of preschool children to realize healthy child nutrition and activity behaviors of their young child. The aim of this study is to assess the effects of the two overweight prevention interventions with regard to child health behaviors and child Body Mass Index. Methods/Design: A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted among parents and their preschool children who attend one of 51 participating YHC teams. The teams were randomly allocated to one of the two intervention groups, or to the control group (care as usual). The 'BBOFT+' intervention focuses on effective child rearing by parents from birth onwards by enlarging parental skills concerning healthy behavioural life-style habits. Parents who are allocated to the 'E-health4Uth Healthy todd Discussion: We hypothesize that the use of the additional interventions will result in a healthier lifestyle of preschool children and an improved BMI and less development of overweight and obesity compared to usual care.