Abstract

The aim was to evaluate if the Nereu Programme would favourably impact on physical activity (PA), sedentary be-haviour and adiposity in low active overweight and obese children as a public health intervention tool for the mana-gement of children’s obesity.  The design was a longitudinal prospective study with post-test at 9 months, consisted of PA for children with behavioural components, family be-havioural sessions for parents and behaviour strategies for both. Eighty-six (10.65 ± 2 years) low active and overweight or obese children according the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) Criteria and their parents participated. PA, sedentary behaviours and adiposity were collected at baseli-ne and 9 months after the intervention. The children reported more time (p < 0.01) on moderate (2.4 ± 5.3 h·week-1) and high (3.1 ± 1.62 h · week-1) intensity PA and less time (p < 0.001) on sedentary activities (5.4 ± 6.3 h · week-1). BMI z-score was reduced by 0.2 ± 0.29 units (p < 0.001). These results may induce a positive change in PA, seden-tary behaviours and BMI z-score in low active overweight and obese children. This intervention could be an interesting public health intervention tool for the management of children’s obesity. However, future studies should clarify these associations.