Effective behavior change approaches are necessary to help individuals avoid or mitigate risk factors, engage in behavioral patterns that lead to better health, and consequently, prevent several chronic diseases. Physical inactivity is considered one of the most harmful risk factors for chronic medical conditions, and although different strategies are used to tackle this behavior, not all of them lead to the expected or desired results. This brief commentary examines recent approaches aimed at physical activity behavior change. We find that a combination of strategies focusing on streamlining the access to physical activity seems to be more effective than individual approaches, in order to increase physical activity engagement to prevent chronic diseases in adults.

Chronic diseases are a major health problem worldwide, especially in lower-income jurisdictions. Considering this scenario, the World Health Organization has recently established, as a research priority, preventive interventions for populations from lower-income countries, such as the middle-income country of Brazil. The purpose of this article is to describe the components of a pan-Canadian lifestyle program adapted to Brazilians and to report its health and fitness outcomes. A 12-week program called ACCELERATION was translated and culturally adapted to Brazilians. A quasi-randomized controlled trial was designed, consisting of weekly emails and educational videos addressing risk factors for chronic disease. Health and fitness measures included body composition, cardiovascular variables, aerobic fitness, and muscular strength. The Brazilian experimental group showed maintenance in heart rate, blood pressure, and VO₂max values while presenting an improvement of 3.3% in body fat percentage (p = 0.040, d = −0.325) and 5.1% in muscular strength (p = 0.039, d = 0.328). Overall, these results were similar to the Canadian intervention. Based on these findings, the Brazilian version of the program has the potential to contribute to the fight against chronic diseases in Brazil.

Background: Recent evidence highlights the importance of interventions tackling physical inactivity and unhealthy eating in lower-income countries. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Canadian ACCELERATION lifestyle program adapted to Brazilians. The main outcomes of the study were changes in the engagement in weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and in the daily consumption of fruits/vegetables. Methods: The adapted intervention consisted of a 12-week quasi-randomized controlled trial delivered through email. The data from the original Canadian experimental group (CE, n = 194) and the two groups of Portuguese-speaking Brazilians living in Canada in the adapted program – Brazilian experimental (BE, n = 41) and Brazilian control (BC, n = 35) – were assessed at baseline and post-intervention. The data of the 270 participants were analyzed using two-way repeated measures factorial ANCOVA (group x time) for ratio variables and Chi-square and McNemar tests for the categorical variables. Results: The BE group had a significant increase in MVPA (mean difference, 95% CI: 86.3, 38.1–134.4 min/week) and fruits/vegetables intake (3.2, 1.4–5.1 servings/day) after the intervention (both p < 0.001). The proportion of participants engaging in ≥ 150 min of MVPA increased from 4.9% to 73.2%, while adoption of a healthy diet increased from 4.9% to 53.7% in the BE group (both p < 0.001). The CE group also improved on these variables (p < 0.05) with no difference vs the BE group (p > 0.05), whereas BC did not show changes (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The Brazilian version of the ACCELERATION program effectively promoted positive health behavior changes in its participants and has the potential to contribute to the fight against risk factors for chronic diseases in Brazilians.