Digital Commons Network^™

Examining Activity Levels And Motor Proficiency: A Comparison Of Children Who Are Overweight And At A Healthy Weight To Their Parents And Peers, Aaron Copeland, Maresa Madsen, Riley Phelps, Brandon Richards

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine relationships and differences between motor proficiency, activity level, and parental activity level in children who are at a healthy weight and children who are overweight or obese.

Methods: Forty-four children (26 children at a healthy weight and 18 children who were overweight or obese) between the ages of 8-16 (BMI: 14.3-43.6 kg/m2) and 36 parents (BMI: 18.1-44.7) participated in this study. Children and parents wore StepWatch activity monitors (SAM) to measure activity levels over a 72 hour period. Tests reflecting several determinants of motor performance were also administered to …

Trends Over 5 Decades In U.S. Occupation-Related Physical Activity And Their Associations With Obesity, Timothy S. Church, Diana M. Thomas, Catrine Tudor-Locke, Peter T. Katzmarzyk, Conrad P. Earnest, Ruben Q. Rodarte, Corby K. Martin, Steven N. Blair, Claude Bouchard

Faculty Publications

Background: The true causes of the obesity epidemic are not well understood and there are few longitudinal population-based data published examining this issue. The objective of this analysis was to examine trends in occupational physical activity during the past 5 decades and explore how these trends relate to concurrent changes in body weight in the U.S.

Methodology/Principle Findings: Analysis of energy expenditure for occupations in U.S. private industry since 1960 using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mean body weight was derived from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). In the early 1960's almost half …

An Examination Of Family Nutrition Programs Implemented By Mississippi State University Extension Service In Jackson Public Schools, Gabrielle La'dale Bryant

Theses and Dissertations

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) includes programs and educational curricula that promote healthy behaviors for people receiving nutrition assistance benefits, or eligible for benefits. This study investigated whether information given to children through SNAP-Ed nutrition education programs implemented in schools was taken home to educate parents. After programs were delivered to students by Mississippi State University Extension Service Nutrition Educators, parents (N=302, response rate=43.1%) of elementary students in eight public schools in Jackson, Mississippi, reported changes they made in their households. These changes included eating more fruits and vegetables or trying different fruits and vegetables, and being more physically …

Effects Of Exercise On Brain Activation In Response To Visual Food Cues, Laura Hackett

Kinesiology and Public Health

No abstract provided.

Fit Into College: A Program To Improve Physical Activity And Dietary Intake Lifestyles Among College Students, Robert V. Topp, Jean S. Edward, S. Lee Ridner, Dean E. Jacks, Karen Newton, Patricia Keiffner, Deborah Woodall, Kathleen P. Conte

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a 10-week program could improve physical activity, physical fitness, body weight, dietary intake, and perceptions of exercise and diet among college 30 healthy college freshmen. Outcomes were measured at baseline, and following the 10-week program. The weekly sessions incorporated constructs of the Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change and were administered by fitness interns who were junior or senior college students enrolled in health-related majors. The participants presented with low physical activity, physical fitness, and poor dietary intake, and 50% were overweight/obese (BMI > 25). Participants demonstrated gains in their physical fitness …

Weight-Control Practices Reported By Students In A Maine Middle School, Alan Maijka

Journal of Extension

Extension professionals who work with youth are often faced with issues of body weight, diet and/or body image. How we handle these topics has the potential to either help or harm. The goal of the study reported here was to explore the prevalence and types of weight-control methods practiced by middle school students. The majority of students reported practices that have been previously associated with increased risk for becoming overweight. Those who work with children should be careful to avoid contributing to the tendency for children to begin weight-control practices that may paradoxically increase their risk for becoming overweight.

Program Review: Raising Healthy Eaters, Christine M. Helfrich, Robert J. Fetsch, Janet C. Benavente

Journal of Extension

The prevalence of overweight children and adults has been increasing steadily over the past three decades. Behaviors related to diet and nutrition are often established in early childhood. Toddlers most often develop healthy eating habits through parent modeling. Due to the steady increase in obesity in children, there is a clear need for nutrition and parenting programming that helps parents gain a better understanding of nutrition and feeding habits of children. In this article we review the curriculum Raising Healthy Eaters, a program that integrates parenting and nutrition.

Validation Of The Actical Activity Monitor In Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Steven P. Hooker, Anna Feeney, Brent E. Hutto, Karin A. Pfeiffer, Kerry Mciver, Daniel P. Heil, John E. Vena, Michael J. Lamonte, Steven N. Blair

Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study was designed to validate the Actical activity monitor in middle-aged and older adults of varying body composition to develop accelerometer thresholds to distinguish between light and moderate intensity physical activity (PA).

Methods: Nonobese 45 to 64 yr (N = 29), obese 45 to 64 yr (N = 21), and ≥65 yr (N = 23; varying body composition) participants completed laboratory-based sitting, household, and locomotive activities while wearing an Actical monitor and a portable metabolic measurement system. Non-linear regression analysis was used to identify activity count (AC) cut-points to differentiate between light intensity (<3 METs) and moderate intensity (≥3 METs) PA.

Results: Using group-specific algorithms, …

Combating Childhood Obesity In California, Janelle Borelli

Social Sciences

Childhood obesity has become a major problem in Corporate America.  Our youth’s health is at risk, the statistics are alarming, and childhood obesity is largely preventable.  In order to solve the childhood obesity epidemic, government action, both state and federal, needs to be taken by passing nutrition standard laws.  Also, the built environment should support an active lifestyle rather than one based on fast food and lack of exercise.  Families should adopt a healthy lifestyle including having adequate fruits and vegetables at home along with exercising daily.

Parental Perceptions Of The Rural School’S Role In Addressing Childhood Obesity, Ann M. Stalter, Mary Beth Kaylor, Jessica D. Steinke, Rosanta M. Barker

Nursing Faculty Publications

This study employed cross-sectional, descriptive design with convenience sampling to explore rural parent perceptions of child obesity, use of Body Mass Index (BMI) in schools, preferences for receipt of BMI information and, the rural school’s role in obesity prevention/treatment. The survey “Parental Perceptions of BMI and Obesity in the School-Age Child” was used. Of the 183 surveys distributed, 65 were returned (35.5%). Fifty-five percentage of parents were in agreement of school-based BMI screening. Fifty-four percentage of parents selected a combination of ways to receive BMI information (letter from school nurse, face-to-face conference with nurse, or via report card). Few parents …

When Do Fat Taxes Increase Consumer Welfare?, Jayson L. Lusk, Christiane Schroeter

Agribusiness

Previous analyses of fat taxes have generally worked within an empirical framework in which it is difficult to determine whether consumers benefit from the policy. This note outlines on simple means to determine whether consumers benefit from a fat tax by comparing the ratio of expenditures on the taxed good to the weight effect of the tax against the individual’s willingness to pay for a one-pound weight reduction. Our empirical calculations suggest that an individual would have to be willing to pay about $1500 to reduce weight by one pound for a tax on sugary beverages to be welfare enhancing. …

From The Big Apple To Big Ben: An Insight Into Menu Labeling, Liza M. Escapa Lima

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Imagine looking around and recognizing that you are much heavier than your fellow peers.

From Atheoretical To Motivation Theory-Based Youth Discretionary-Time Physical Activity Promotion: Current And Future Directions, Megan Babkes Stellino, Christina Sinclair

Faculty Publications

This article describes the importance of promoting children’s discretionary-time physical activity (DTPA) in connection with the rising international obesity epidemic. School based recess is highlighted as exemplar of an opportunity for children to obtain more DTPA. Brief review of the extant research focused on efforts to increase children’s recess physical activity (RPA) is provided. Literature from the field of sports psychology that has established a strong foundation of evidence regarding factors that increase youth motivation in various physical domain contexts will guide the proposed expansion to theoretical examination of predictors of youth DTPA. Three relevant motivation theory frameworks will be …

Prevalence Of Metabolic Abnormalities In Children With Varying Degrees Of Obesity, Leah Sabato

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

As the prevalence of obesity among children has risen, metabolic syndrome, a cluster of abnormalities which includes obesity, altered glucose metabolism, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, has increasingly become recognized in the pediatric population. Metabolic syndrome has been studied extensively in adults, and there is increasing interest to understand the condition in adolescents; however, studies of metabolic syndrome in younger children are limited. The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its individual components among children aged 6-10 years. Demographic, anthropometric, and biochemical data were gathered retrospectively from the medical records of 222 obese children aged …

Parental Perception Of Childhood Obesity And The School's Role On Prevention And Interventions In Childhood Obesity, Monique Jones

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Childhood obesity is a major health crisis that is becoming an epidemic among children and adolescents. Interventions must begin early and focus on prevention strategies to achieve the goal of increasing quality years of life for today's children and families. Parents with children in a local after school Boys & Girls club were surveyed regarding their perception of childhood obesity, the causes of childhood obesity, and the school's role in the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity. More than 90% of the participants identified inactivity, poor eating behavior, eating too much, and lack of money to buy nutritious foods as …

Decomposing The Intergenerational Disparity In Income And Obesity, Qi Zhang, Buhong Zheng, Ning Zhang, Youfa Wang

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Intergenerational disparity in income and health violates the norm of equal opportunity and deserves the attention of researchers and policy makers. To understand changes in intergenerational disparity, we created the intergenerational mobility index (IMI), which can simultaneously measure changes in income rankings and in health outcomes across two generations. We selected obesity as one health outcome to illustrate the application of IMI due to its severe health and financial consequences for society and the significant changes in the distribution of obesity across income groups. Although obesity has increased in all income groups in the last four decades, higher income groups …

Assessment And Management Of Adult Obesity In A Primary Care Practice, Sherry M. Adkins

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to describe primary care physician adherence to National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults (1998) and to explore patient characteristics associated with physician assessment and management behaviors. Patient characteristics included age, sex, race, BMI, associated disease risk, and Medicaid coverage.

Methods: A chart abstraction of 99 randomly selected adult patients with at least one visit to a particular primary care practice during a 12-month period was completed. Patients were not pregnant during the year of review, and had a …

The Influence Of School Eating Environment On Children's Eating Behaviors: An Examination Of The Snda-Iii, Sabrina M. Neeley

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in the United States has prompted researchers to examine the factors that contribute to children’s food choices and consumption. Schools provide ample opportunities to teach children healthy eating habits, as well as create eating environments that are conducive to healthy eating behaviors. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides federally assisted meals to millions of children every day and the assessment of the NSLP provides an opportunity to examine the school-eating environment. Hierarchical and logistic modeling of the SNDA-III, the USDA assessment of the NSLP, was conducted to determine relationships between environmental factors …

Female Adolescent Body Image And Success At School: A Grounded Theory Approach To Creation Of Administrative Best Practice, Erin K. Murphy

ETD Archive

At present, school administrators do not have necessary information to create a school environment where teenage girls unhappy with their bodies can experience success at school. This research surrounds three research questions: 1. How do adolescent girls' definitions of their bodies relate to their perception of their high school's climate? 2. How does the manner in which adolescent female girls define their bodies relate to their success in school? 3. What is the nature of adolescent girls' and high school administrators' perceptions of how adolescent girls' body image influences administrative practice? Four school administrators and ten high school girls were …

The Effects Of Racially-Motivated Emotional Arousal On The Eating Behaviors Of African American Women, Lenwood W. Hayman

Wayne State University Dissertations

Disparities between African Americans and Caucasians remain vast across a wide variety of health indicators. Chronic stress has been identified as a risk factor for a variety of chronic illnesses and poor health outcomes. One type of chronic stress that has been linked to health disparities is the stress associated with experiences of racial discrimination. The stress African Americans encounter as a result of their racist experiences contributes to a chronic elevation of their physiological stress response. In addition to stress, a major risk factor for coronary heart disease and diabetes is obesity, which has been established as a major …

Obesity-Mediated Inflammatory Microenvironment Stimulates Osteoclastogenesis And Bone Loss In Mice, Ganesh V. Halade, Amina El Jamali, Paul J. Williams, Roberto J. Fajardo, Gabriel Fernandes

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Clinical evidence indicates that fat is inversely proportional to bone mass in elderly obese women. However, it remains unclear whether obesity accelerates bone loss. In this report we present evidence that increased visceral fat leads to inflammation and subsequent bone loss in 12-month-old C57BL/6J mice that were fed 10% corn oil (CO)-based diet and a control lab chow (LC) for 6. months. As expected from our previous work, CO-fed mice demonstrated increased visceral fat and enhanced total body fat mass compared to LC. The adipocyte-specific PPARγ and bone marrow (BM) adiposity were increased in CO-fed mice. In correlation with those …

Obesity And Cancer Screening According To Race And Gender., Heather Bittner Fagan, Richard Wender, Ronald E Myers, Nicholas Petrelli

Department of Family & Community Medicine Faculty Papers

The relationship between obesity and cancer screening varies by screening test, race, and gender. Most studies on cervical cancer screening found a negative association between increasing weight and screening, and this negative association was most consistent in white women. Recent literature on mammography reports no association with weight. However, some studies show a negative association in white, but not black, women. In contrast, obese/overweight men reported higher rates of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. Comparison of prostate cancer screening, mammography, and Pap smears implies a gender difference in the relationship between screening behavior and weight. In colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, the …

Anthropometric Measurements And Body Composition Analysis Of Obese Adolescents With And Without Metabolic Syndrome, Deni̇z Nazi̇re Çağdaş Ayvaz, Fatma Ni̇şanci Kilinç, Feyza Ayşenur Paç, Erman Çakal

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Obesity and risk of metabolic syndrome (MS) are rapidly increasing in children. Therefore, criteria for MS were aimed to be evaluated in obese children (OC). Materials and methods: Anthropometric indices and body composition (bioimpedance) analysis (BIA) were compared in 32 obese and 32 normal-weight children. Biochemical parameters were evaluated in OC. Results of OC with/without MS were compared. Results: Subscapular skinfold thickness (SST) was more sensitive and specific than triceps skinfold thickness in the diagnosis of obesity. According to BIA basal metabolism rate, fat mass (FM), FM%, and FM index were higher, while impedance, FFM%, fat-free-mass (FFM) index, and total-body-water% …

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of An Intervention Program On Preventing Childhood Obesity In Denizli, Turkey, Özgür Sevi̇nç, Ali̇ İhsan Bozkurt, Mehmet Gündoğdu, Ümmühan Baş Aslan, Bülent Ağbuğa, Şehmus Aslan, Emel Di̇kbaş, Zeli̇ha Gökçe

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

To determine the efficiency of 2 different intervention programs (healthy nutrition education and/or physical activity programs) for preventing the obesity of primary school students. Materials and methods: Selected were 6 schools, making 3 groups, from all primary schools in Denizli with the half-day education system. Each group was composed of 2 schools. The groups were randomly divided into intervention group 1, intervention group 2, and the control group. The body mass index (BMI) levels of the students in all of the groups were calculated. Both the physical activity and healthy nutrition programs were applied to intervention group 1, and only …

The Role Of Policy And The Built Environment On Children's In-School Physical Activity In The Mississippi Delta, Abigail Gamble

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School environments provide an ideal setting for children to develop and adopt active living behaviors as a way of life. The primary purpose of this investigation was to describe state, district and school level policy regarding in-school physical activity, the school built environment and in-school physical activity of children ages 6 through 11 years in the Mississippi delta. A mixed-methods approach was used to garner a rich understanding of how current policy and the built environment influence in-school physical activity and weight status. Eleven public schools in three districts representing two counties in the Mississippi delta participated in this investigation. …

Starved: Food Deserts In The Mississippi Delta, Novelette L. Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the impact of food deserts on obesity, and builds a case for additional research on rural food deserts independent from urban ones. The Mississippi Delta consistently presents the highest obesity rates within the state, yet both the third unhealthiest county (Quitman) and the healthiest (DeSoto) are located in that region. One of the reasons there is such a large discrepancy between the health rankings of DeSoto and Quitman counties is that DeSoto is contained within the Greater Memphis Metropolitan Area, but Quitman is entirely rural. Previous research has focused on the prevalence of urban food deserts and …

The Heavy Hand Of Government: An Economic Study Of Obesity, Kanybek Imanakovich Sagynbekov

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although there is extensive theoretical and empirical coverage of the incentive effect of an income tax on labor supply in the economics literature, there is no study of the secondary behavioral effects of an income tax. In this thesis, I explore the relationship among income, marginal income tax, and body weight. Namely, I show that under general conditions the Engel curve for the optimal weight is an inverted U-shaped function and the effect of the marginal income tax upon weight is non-linear. The empirical investigation uses two datasets: a panel dataset with 459 state-level observations for US states from 1992 …

Prevalence Of Obesity Among Head Start Preschoolers In Western Ohio, Angela Sims

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

Objective: The intent of this study was to examine low income Head Start overweight and obese preschoolers, ages 3-5, in 8 western Ohio counties. Variables of interest included: obesity status, rural versus metropolitan location, home versus center-based Head Start, and access to physicians.

Methods: Data was collected retrospectively from the host Head Start site located in Piqua, Ohio. All Head Start enrolled preschoolers (N=1,181) ages 3 to 5 within the 8 western Ohio counties and 43 programs were studied. All children were considered of low income based on their acceptance into the Head Start program.

The data was retrieved from …

The Role Of Ghrelin And Leptin In Obesity: Is Exogenous Administration Of These Hormones A Possible Drug Therapy?, Peri Eckstein

The Science Journal of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences

Ghrelin and leptin are two hormones that have been recognized to have a major influence on energy balance. Leptin is a mediator of long term regulation of energy balance, suppressing food intake and thereby inducing weight loss. Ghrelin, on the other hand, is a fast acting hormone, playing a role in meal initiation. As a growing number of people suffer from obesity, understanding the mechanisms by which various hormones and neurotransmitters influence energy balance has been a subject of intense research. This paper provides background on leptin and ghrelin hormones, their role in food intake and body weight in humans, …

Do Soup Kitchen Meals Contribute To Suboptimal Nutrient Intake & Obesity In The Homeless Population?, Lisa G. Sisson, Deborah A. Lown

Peer Reviewed Articles - Hospitality and Tourism Management

The double burden of suboptimal nutrient intake and obesity exists when available foods lack essential nutrients to promote health and provide high amounts of energy. This study evaluated the nutrition content of 41 meals served to the homeless at 3 urban soup kitchens. The mean nutrient content of all meals and of meals from each of the kitchens was compared to two-thirds of the estimated average requirement (EAR). The mean nutrient content of the meals did not provide two-thirds of the EAR for energy, vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, dietary fiber, or calcium but provided 11.8% of calories from saturated fat. …