title: The effectiveness of intervention programs in the prevention and control of obesity in infants: a systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to conduct a literature review to evaluate the effectiveness of intervention programs in the prevention and control of obesity in children and to map the locations where the studies were carried out.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review using the PubMed / MEDLINE and LILACS databases to trace the published literature on intervention programs for prevention and control of obesity in the period of January 2004 to October 2013. The initial search was conducted using the terms "body mass index", " Intervention" and "children" or "adolescent" and only articles published in English, Spanish or Portuguese were selected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that interventions based only on advice had modest results in identifying changes in the anthropometric indicators of children and adolescents over time, although they appear to be effective in promoting positive changes in the eating habits of this population. Among the studies identified, 77.8 % were conducted in high-income countries, 22.2 % in middle to high income countries and no intervention studies were found in middle to low income countries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intervention programs based only on counseling are effective in promoting changes in dietary patterns, but show poor results in the changes of anthropometric parameters of children and adolescents.
authors: Professor PhD. Center for Health Sciences, Federal University of Recôncavo of Bahia. Santo Antônio de Jesus, state of Bahia.. jack_cdias@hotmail.com.
authors: Jacqueline Costa Dias
authors: JC
authors: Pitangueira
authors: Professor PhD. School of Medicine of Bahia. Head of the Paediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology Unity. Federal University of Bahia. Salvador, state of Bahia.. jack_cdias@hotmail.com.
authors: Luciana
authors: L
authors: Rodrigues Silva
authors: Professor PhD. Nutrition School. Federal University of Bahia. Salvador, state of Bahia. Brazil.. jack_cdias@hotmail.com.
authors: Priscila Ribas de Farias
authors: PR
authors: Costa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D061345:Early Medical Intervention / Q000379:methods*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control*