Researchers hope to recruit 400 children from nurseries and other pre-five centres across Glasgow to take part in the 166,000 three-year study, called 'Randomised controlled trial of a nursery and home-based intervention for obesity prevention and cardiovascular risk factor reduction', funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
The study, based at the University of Glasgow, Yorkhill NHS Trust and Glasgow City Council, is designed to tackle the growing problem of inactivity in pre-school children, which is regarded as one of the 'ticking time bombs' for coronary heart disease in the future. It will examine the effect of improving activity levels in the nursery and home environment, and it is the first time a study has adopted this dual approach.
Children will be recruited in the year before they start school. They will complete a programme of physical activity and undergo regular monitoring for a one-year period to assess what effect the activity has had on their weight, blood pressure and fatness. One group of children in the study will take 30 minutes of activity a day, three days a week at nursery, as well as working from a home-based 'TopTots' pack to continue exercise in the home and focus the family on the need for activity.
Meanwhile a control group of children will be continuing their usual activities at nursery and at home.
Dr John Reilly, the lead researcher based at Yorkhill's department of human nutrition, said, 'There is an increasing belief that the promotion of physical activity should begin at an early age.
'Until now, research studies have not been large enough, or over a long enough time scale, to test how effective education strategies can be. If successful, this programme will also be easy to integrate into an early years curriculum across the UK.'
The BHF has found that lack of physical activity in children is especially worrying because key risk factors for coronary heart disease can be seen from an early age. Conditions such as high blood pressure are common in overweight children and are a major contributory factor to later coronary heart disease.
Nurseries wishing to take part in the study can contact Dr Reilly on 0141 207 0710.
