Location: Children's Nutrition Research Center
Project Number: 3092-51000-056-004-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2014
End Date: Aug 31, 2019
Objective:
Perform research and establish research subawards as deemed appropriate, that addresses the cause and effects of obesity and obesity related disorders as well as develop and evaluate strategies to prevent obesity and obesity related diseases. A research plan encompassing the specific research described below is authorized. This research is to be accomplished over a multi-year period as resources are available.
Project 1. Determine the "Effects of Obesity on Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Cardiometabolic Health in African American and White Children and Adolescents"
Objective 1. Determine the effect of severe obesity on physical activity, sedentary behavior, and cardiometabolic risk factors during childhood and adolescence and whether these associations are modified by race.
Objective 2. Investigate the contribution of (total, regional, and depot-specific) fat accumulation on changes in physical activity, sedentary behavior, and cardiometabolic risk factors during childhood and adolescence.
Objective 3. Determine barriers and facilitators of physical activity that are related to obesity, including environmental and socio-emotional factors.
Project 2. Determine the "Relationship of Physical Activity and Diet with Socio-Demographic, Environmental, and Metabolic Factors in Arkansas Public School Children"
Objective 1. Characterize the amounts and types of physical activities AR children engage in, and the types and quantities of selected foods they consume, to evaluate the relationship of these activities to BMI.
Objective 2. Characterize the activity-related household, environmental and sociodemographic variables that could potentially affect children's physical activity and obesity levels.
Objective 3. Measure physical activity (PA), physical fitness (PF), and metabolic variables in a subsample of 7-10 year old Arkansas children to determine the impact of PA and PF per se, independent of obesity status, on overall metabolic health.
Project 3. Accomplish research focusing on "An After-school Program for Preventing Obesity in Under-resourced Minority Children"
Objective 1. Measure knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in children aged 8-14 years gained from the SPARK Plus Program in a 4 month intervention, followed by another 6 months of follow-up through use of pre/post validated youth instruments to measure diet, physical activity, and other relevant endpoints, along with anthropometric indicators and blood pressure.
Objective 2. Assess the impact of SPARK Plus on physical activity and food choices in children from the target population.
Objective 3. Assess the impact of the parental engagement component on children's food behaviors, activity levels and weight.
Approach:
USDA-ARS and Baylor College of Medicine are both interested in the significant public health problem caused by obesity in the United States. The rise in obesity is the result of multiple factors with different degrees of impact. A clearer understanding is needed in the integrated roles of physical activity, diet and dietary components in energy metabolism, eating behavior and timing, satiety, and health outcomes. Research efforts will be taken that addresses individual variation in maintaining body weight, achieving a healthy body weight, preventing the development of obesity and its related diseases, and other health associated factors. A better understanding is needed of the scientific, social, environmental, and cultural processes that guide people to adopt and sustain healthful food choices, eating behaviors and physical activity patterns in the Lower Mississippi Delta Region and the south central US.
To achieve these research objectives, Baylor College of Medicine and as appropriate, in cooperation with specific institutions from the three states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi (via the use of subawards), will conduct research associated with addressing the obesity epidemic in the south central U.S. This specifically includes conducting a prospective epidemiological study and necessarily analyses to determine the effect of severe obesity on physical activity, sedentary behavior, and cardiometabolic risk factors among African American and White children and adolescents; identify and test key socio-demographic, environmental and other factors that influence activity levels and sedentary behaviors in children that potentially affect their physical fitness and subsequent metabolic health and design a more in-depth surveys; and evaluate the effectiveness of using a research-based physical activity program, (SPARK) that will be combined with nutrition education and parental involvement components with the goal of reducing weight gain and obesity related risk factors.
