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Fit kids, fit communities
Through education and perspiration, OU-COM tackles the
intricacies of childhood obesity
By Mary Reed
But challenges remain. For parent Vivian Taylor, who talks
about Take Action as the group walks from Kroger to the
community center, fast food is the problem. “I love eating
out,” she says, counting the Wendy’s Baconator as her
favorite fast food. “(The researchers) said it was probably
the worst thing you can eat.” Now she buys the chicken wrap.
“I wanted to lose weight, but the program is not geared
toward that,” Taylor says, repeating the mantra of Take
Action physicians, nutritionists and exercise physiologists.
Almost everyone today says it at some point: Take Action is
a healthy lifestyle program, not a weight loss program. But
Taylor has enjoyed many benefits of the program, including
weight loss. “I can fit into my wedding band (again).”
Taylor’s daughter, Riley, is walking with a pedometer. She’s
taken 2,190 steps today—or at least since the last time it
fell off, she says. Researchers have tracked the average
American at 5,000 steps a day; 10,000 is recommended. Take
Action participants get pedometers as homework, along with a
food log and a portion plate. Most participants were
surprised to learn about their own “portion distortion,”
including how much sugar and sodium was in their diet.
Participants take home more than just tips and tasks—they
receive vouchers for gas and for the Athens Farmers Market
and passes to the community center gym. But in the case of
the Taylor family, a 60-mile round trip from their rural
Athens County home drastically reduces the value of those
vouchers.
Take Action researchers attribute 2008’s faltering
recruitment primarily to high gas prices. Another challenge
is child care. Today, some parents have brought children who
are not part of the study, which is not allowed, but it’s
either that or don’t come.
“There are cracks at every level,” says Wapner, whose goal
is as simple as it is daunting: “Fit a healthy kid into a
healthy family into a healthy community.” Wapner and his
colleagues hope this year’s program—funded by OU-COM’s
Research and Scholarly Affairs Committee and the Department
of Family Medicine, as well as the Athens Foundation and the
American Association of Family Practitioners—will draw
funding for a school-based prevention program modeled on
Take Action.
“I think the prevention of obesity is much more effective
than the treatment of obesity,” says Jay Shubrook, D.O.
(’96), co-principal investigator of Take Action and
assistant professor of family medicine. Shubrook adds that
long-term sustainability will be the ultimate test. The
researchers have given this year’s participants yearlong
passes to the Athens Community Center and will monitor
whether they continue their workouts without supervision.
“It works as long as you do it,” he notes.
Involving Families and Schools
Fredrick (Fritz) Hagerman, Ph.D., professor of physiology,
never sits for long. The 70-something seems to exude more
energy than the seven- and eight-year-olds from his study, "Exercise and
nutrition intervention study of rural
Appalachian schoolchildren."
Hagerman and his colleagues—professors and
students—completed the 16-week study at two Athens County
elementary schools between January and May 2006. The control
school, Coolville Elementary, received no intervention. The
experimental group, Amesville Elementary, engaged in
supervised exercise and nutrition lessons.
(Montgomery-Reagan’s study showed 22 percent of students at
both schools were overweight.)
The researchers brought rowing machines, donated by Concept2
Rowing, to the school. Students used their physical
education class period to row, and both they and their
parents received nutrition lessons.
The outcomes were dramatic. By the end of the study,
children in the experimental group were making better food
choices and exercising with more strength and efficiency,
measured by power generation and oxygen consumption. Most
strikingly, over the course of 16 weeks, body fat in the
control group increased from 8.8 percent to 10.1 percent. In
the experimental group, body fat decreased from 8.4 percent
to 7.8 percent.
It turns out that intervening with younger children might be
a key to success. As Montgomery-Reagan’s figures show, many
kids are already obese by the time they’re 11 or 12. At that
point, it’s too late for prevention.
The question remains whether short-term interventions can
have long-term effects. Hagerman’s colleagues plan to
annually retest the students’ body mass index and body fat
until they graduate from high school to find out. But the
obstacles are daunting. Hagerman points out that physical
education is often inadequate; many students no longer walk
to school; and, of course, school lunches and vending
machines make it difficult for students to make good food
choices.
“Are schools trying to do something about it? Sure,”
Hagerman says. He points to California’s ban on vending
machines in its public schools. But where did much of the
proceeds from the vending machines go? To the schools.
“You’re sort of damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
But on Hagerman’s office door hangs a sign of hope. It’s a
two-paneled poster hand-drawn by one of the children in his
study. The first panel, titled “Old Travis,” shows a boy
with a frown standing by a table with a box of donuts. In
the second panel, “New Travis” is smiling, and the table
next to him, laden with fruits and vegetables.
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Ohio University
College of Osteopathic Medicine
Grosvenor Hall | Athens, Ohio 45701
Tel:
1-800-345-1560 |
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