In the U.S., 17 percent of children are obese with certain groups more affected than others. National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month in September is designed to provide opportunities for learning about how to battle this serious health concern. One of the University of Georgia's primary research emphases is on improving human health. UGA has assembled faculty research teams that directly address child obesity. Here are three UGA faculty members with unique expertise in the field ready to discuss child obesity with the media.
Caree CotwrightAssistant ProfessorDepartment of Foods and NutritionCollege of Family and Consumer Sciences[email protected]706-542-3073 The overall goal of Cotwright's work is to create healthy early care and education environments to prevent obesity in our youngest children, ages 0-5, while working to decrease health disparities among low-income and minority populations. Cotwright's research focuses on promoting nutrition and physical activity best practices and policies in the early care and education setting. The aim of her work is to create training and interventions for young children, their parents, child care providers and child care food service staff to increase healthy eating, wellness education and physical activity in the ECE setting; assist ECE settings with creating wellness policies and plans of action to sustain changes long term; and using innovative approaches such as entertainment education and mobile fruit and vegetable markets to engage families and child care providers in healthy living. On what the nation should do: "What we need to do as a nation to battle childhood obesity is to start early in teaching healthy habits to children. Starting with children ages 0-5 is the best way to prevent childhood obesity and build a foundation for healthy habits. We are making great strides on tackling this problem and we need to continue building in daily activities that make healthy choices normal, easy, desirable and fun for children. As we teach children, adults become role models for healthy behavior. We should also strive to create and sustain partnerships with families, schools, child care programs and health care providers to create policies, systems and environments that support the development of lifelong health habits. For example, I train child care providers on how to implement policies such as making water available for self-serve in the classroom, eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages, and not allowing children to sit for more than 15 minutes at a time. Small changes can make a difference in preventing weight gain and promoting healthy habits. We all have role to play in promoting health to sustain quality of life for future generations. If everyone does their part we will become a healthier nation."
Phaedra CorsoUGA Foundation Professor of Human HealthDirector of the Economic Evaluation Research GroupCollege of Public Health[email protected]706-713-2708 Corso is known both nationally and internationally for her research in economic evaluation and economic impact assessment, primarily in the areas of child maltreatment, substance use prevention and childhood obesity. She is one of a number faculty at the College of Public Health working with the Georgia Department of Public Health to evaluate the Georgia Student Health and Physical Education policy, a statewide comprehensive policy adopted in 2009 that combines physical activity requirements, assessment and support for all public elementary schools. On obesity in Georgia: "The prevalence of being obese or overweight has been on the rise in the United States over the last four decades, reaching 30 percent in the state of Georgia. Childhood obesity is one of the biggest concerns in this epidemic, which is associated with a variety of poor health outcomes, lost productivity and staggering health care costs."
Michael SchmidtAssociate ProfessorDepartment of KinesiologyCollege of Education[email protected]706-542-6577 As a physical activity epidemiologist, Schmidt's research broadly focuses on examining associations between physical activity and human health and well-being from a public health perspective. More specifically, much of his research pertains to the following three concentration areas: the prevention and health consequences of obesity, improving methods to measure physical activity in diverse populations, and the effects of physical activity during pregnancy on maternal and child health. Schmidt was the lead author on a recent study from a group of international researchers that identified a potentially effective tool to reduce the long-term health risks of childhood obesity: aerobic exercise. The researchers found that higher aerobic fitness in childhood, independent of abdominal fat, reduced the risk of developing metabolic syndrome in early adulthood by 36 percent compared to those with lower childhood fitness levels. "While a number of studies have found that higher levels of aerobic fitness can substantially reduce the cardiovascular disease risks associated with adult obesity, few studies have looked to see whether this might also be true regarding childhood obesity," Schmidt said. More news about the study: news.uga.edu/releases/article/childhood-fitness-obesity-0516/
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