ArticlePLOS global public health2026
Combined nutrition and physical activity education for early adolescents with malnutrition: A systematic review of overweight interventions and the undernutrition evidence gap.
Article in PLOS global public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Early adolescence represents a pivotal stage of growth and development, characterized by profound changes in dietary patterns and physical activity behaviors. Yet, despite the well-documented consequences of both undernutrition and overnutrition, this age group remains largely overlooked in low- and middle-income country settings where the double burden of malnutrition is rapidly intensifying. The primary objective of this systematic review is to determine the effect of combined physical activity and nutrition education interventions among early adolescents experiencing either underweight or overweight, living in socio-economically disadvantaged circumstances. PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and LILACS Plus collection were systematically searched and last updated on June18th 2026. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the revised Cochrane Risk of Bias tool for randomized trials. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach was used to assess the quality of evidence.Five studies comprising 960 adolescents all classified as overweight or obese met the inclusion criteria; no studies involving underweight adolescents were identified. Risk of bias was generally low to some concerns. Overall, the evidence suggests that combined physical activity and nutrition education interventions may improve anthropometric indicators, dietary behaviors, physical activity levels and sedentary behaviors among overweight and obese early adolescents. However, the overall certainty of evidence was very low primarily because of substantial heterogeneity and the limited number of available studies.Given the very low certainty of evidence, the effectiveness of combined nutrition and physical activity education interventions among overweight and obese early adolescents living in resource-constrained settings remains uncertain. While positive trends were noted, the highly inconsistent data across a limited number of studies indicate the data should be interpreted with caution. Furthermore, a substantial gap exists regarding underweight early adolescents. To address this, further high-quality trials, are needed particularly in low-income settings. Protocol registration: PROSPERO (CRD42024569008).
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.