Introduction
obesity
OBESITY
Globally, childhood overweight and obesity present a major public health challenge, with prevalence rates having increased substantially over the past four decades [To date, evidence for effective early obesity interventions is still developing. A 2019 systematic review showed weak to moderate evidence from 16 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on reducing the risk of obesity [i.e., body mass index (BMI)] in young children aged 0–5 years [The use of telephone calls or short message service (SMS), which have become increasingly popular due to easy access and low cost, provide innovative opportunities for health promotion programs such as early obesity prevention [To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted this trial to test whether a combined telephone and SMS support intervention to parents is effective in reducing child BMI and promoting healthy eating and physical activity at 3 years of age [