Released Jan. 29, 2008
DAVIS, Calif. -- UC Cooperative Extension researchers have received a $390,000 grant from the USDA National Research Initiative to document the specific behaviors associated with the growth of overweight and obesity.
“It’s not enough for us to have a good idea what is going on,” said principle investigator Marilyn Townsend, a nutrition specialist based at UC Davis. “We must prove it using a scientific process and that requires an accurate way to identify these behaviors.”
In recent decades, dieticians, doctors, parents and teachers have witnessed unprecedented amounts of unhealthful flab collect on the bodies of their patients, children and students.
Currently, about two-thirds of U.S adults are overweight or obese and about one-fifth of children are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC reports that these figures represent a sharp rise in overweight since the 1970s. UC researchers are trying to figure out what must be done to reverse the trend.
From the sidelines, the answer may seem simple: eat less and exercise more. But researchers know that a complex interaction of parenting, environment, family traditions and children’s interests are at play.
The scientists are developing an easy-to-read and simple-to-administer questionnaire based on 12 topic areas that previous research has shown play a significant role in whether children will wind up obese. For example, one topic area is eating fruits and vegetables.
“We know from lots of research that fruit and vegetable intake is linked not just to healthy weight but to prevention of cancer, diabetes and a whole host of chronic diseases,” Townsend said. “This category can be translated into discrete behaviors – such as whether parents buy fruits and vegetables when they go to the grocery store, whether the parents eat fruits and vegetables in front of the children and whether they offer more than one type of fruit and vegetable at meals.”
Some behaviors can be validated with straight-forward questions, for example, “Does your child drink soda?” Others require careful wording and testing to make sure the answers reflect what is truly going on in the home.
Townsend described her experience when testing a question about whether children help plan and prepare meals. Research has shown that when parents involve kids in cutting carrots, peeling oranges, pouring their own milk, etc., those children eat healthier at the table. But how does a scientist confirm that the parent is thinking of the same thing when asked whether they allow children to help prepare a meal?
“One father’s definition of meal planning was allowing a child to select a T.V. dinner from the freezer,” Townsend said. “One mother minimized her child’s participation in the kitchen because she was busy and sometimes rushed at mealtime, even though the child did get involved in healthy kitchen activities like washing vegetables.”
The questionnaire, being developed under the working title “Healthy Kids,” is aimed at parents of three- to five-year-olds in low-income homes. The questions are carefully vetted for cultural sensitivity and are accompanied with photos that accurately illustrate the behaviors.
Parenting style will also be part of researchers’ queries to determine the risk of overweight and obesity.
“Based on research, we know that parenting style has a significant role in predicting whether a child will be overweight or obese,” Lenna Ontai, also a UCCE nutrition specialist.
Scientists have found that an “authoritative” parenting style – characterized by reasonable control, high levels of nurturance and appropriate limit setting – is connected with healthy weight. In contrast, an “authoritarian” style – with high control and low nurturance – and “permissive” style – with low control and high nurturance – are associated with overweight.
“This is the first time parenting styles have been included in reviews of determinants of childhood overweight,” Townsend said. “We plan to translate these facts into questions that will help us predict children’s weight outcomes.”
“When the science-based questionnaire research is complete, UC Cooperative Extension advisers who implement the USDA-funded Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program and the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program will have a concise and accurate way to identify where education is needed to support children’s healthful eating,” according to UCCE nutrition advisor Cathi Lamp in Tulare County.
Following are sample questions on the questionnaire, presented with words and pictures for parents with low literacy:
- How much time does your child spend outside on a normal day?
- I take the skin off chicken . . . never, sometimes, often, always?
- How long do you watch T.V. each day?
- I buy vegetables . . . never, sometimes, often, always?
- Does your child eat more than one kind of vegetable each day?
- How often does your child eat fast food?
- Does your child skip breakfast?
- How often do you play outside with your child?
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http://news.ucanr.org/newsstorymain.cfm?story=1060
Contacts: Marilyn Townsend, (530) 754-9222, mstownsend@ucdavis.edu
Lenna Ontai, (530) 752-6410, lontaigrz@ucdavis.edu
Cathy Lamp, (559) 685-3309 Ext. 218, cllamp@ucdavis.edu
