Tufts University. US: In the heels of a successful
Tufts project to decrease
childhood obesity in urban
Somerville, Mass., researchers brought a similar intervention program to
rural, low-income areas across the country,
where children who took part ended up eating
more fruits and vegetables than their peers.
The researchers, led by Christina Economos,
Ph.D., N96, the New Balance Chair in Child-
hood Nutrition at the Friedman School and
vice chair and director of ChildObesity180,
followed Tufts’ Shape Up Somerville model,
an approach to preventing childhood obesity
that got schools, families and the community
involved in changing the eating habits and
physical environment for kids. At the end
of that program, students in Somerville
had gained less weight than students in
comparable communities.
For this study, which was published in the
Journal of the Academy of
Nutrition and Dietetics
, eight commu
-
nities in rural California, Kentucky,
Mississippi and South Carolina were randomly assigned to the intervention program or to a control group. Students in the
intervention were given healthier food options
in their school cafeterias and healthy living
lessons that emphasized eating at least five
servings of fruits and vegetables, spending no
more than two hours in front of a television or
other device, and getting at least one hour of
physical activity daily.
The average age of the 1,230 participat
-
ing students was 8.6, and at least 85 percent
qualified for free or reduced-priced
meals, a signal that they came from
low-income households.
At the end of the study, the children in
the targeted groups consumed significantly
more fruits and vegetables than those in the
control groups, or 0.22 cups more for every
1,000 calories they ate. For a child eating
1,600 calories per day, that would translate to
an extra one-third cup of fruits and vegetables.
“Those in rural America typically experience greater health disparities compared with
those in urban areas, including increased risk
of diabetes and coronary heart disease as
adults,” the researchers wrote. “Therefore,
effective interventions that improve the
diets and overall health of rural children
are needed.”