Effects of multidisciplinary therapy on food intake in obese adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Food intake is one of major barriers in obese adolescents’ therapy. Objective: To analyze the effects of multidisciplinary therapy on food intake in obese adolescents. Methods: The study is characterized as pre-experimental and descriptive. The sample was composed of 33 obese adolescents aged between 12 to 18 years. Therapy was composed by nutritional, psychological, medical and physical interventions. Three-day food record self-reported was used, and energetic value of diet was estimated by NutWin software (before and after 12 weeks). Differences between times were verified by Student’s t-test for dependent samples. Results: Intervention was effective to promote reduction in total energy intake (p=0.05), lipid intake (p=0.02), protein p=0.01) and sodium intake (p= 0.02). Conclusions: The multidisciplinary intervention was able to change eating habits in adolescents, which is essential for weight reduction and maintenance of body weight.