IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/jhriss/v60y2025i4p1323-1355.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Information Enhanced with Nudges Mitigate the Rise of Childhood Obesity in the Global South?

Author

Listed:
  • Pham Khanh Nam
  • Brandon J. Restrepo
  • Matthias Rieger
  • Natascha Wagner

Abstract

We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test whether updating nutrition information sets of parents along with nudges reduces excess body fat among primary schoolchildren in urban Vietnam. Parents of overweight or obese children were randomly offered a nutrition consultation that led to goal setting with soft commitment, BMI-for-age report card, and weight scale. After six months, the intervention reduced body fat, waist circumference, and the likelihood of being overweight or obese, which are partly explained by improvements in diets and diet-related parental perceptions. Anthropometric improvements are concentrated among girls—partly operating through achievement of dietary goals—and persisted after 22 months.

Suggested Citation

  • Pham Khanh Nam & Brandon J. Restrepo & Matthias Rieger & Natascha Wagner, 2025. "Can Information Enhanced with Nudges Mitigate the Rise of Childhood Obesity in the Global South?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 60(4), pages 1323-1355.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:60:y:2025:i:4:p:1323-1355
    Note: DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.0821-11827R2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jhr.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/60/4/1323
    Download Restriction: A subscription is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:60:y:2025:i:4:p:1323-1355. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://jhr.uwpress.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.