Project Number: 6250-51000-053-02
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Oct 01, 2005
End Date: Sep 30, 2010

Objective:
The objective of this research is to validate measures of children's diet & physical activity (PA) behaviors & beliefs about diet & PA; study immediate & longer-term correlates of infant's diet & PA, including biological variables, beliefs/practices, environments, culture, & public policies; study immediate & longer-term correlates of children's body fatness & metabolic syndrome risk factors; develop & test interventions to change children's diet, PA, body composition & metabolic disease risk factors; study new & computationally feasible statistical methods for analyzing & clustering a large number of time series, & characterize the optimal policy; & determine associations between the perceived barriers/facilitators & actual Dietary Guidelines for Americans adherence by different groupings using group appropriate survey instruments. 1)Biological Influences on Children's Diet & PA - understand the influences on those behaviors. 2) Development & Testing of Interventions to Promote Healthy Dietary Behavior among Youth for Chronic Disease Prevention - Develop & test family & school-based interventions to promote healthy dietary behaviors among families & youth for obesity & chronic disease prevention. 3) Relationships between Infant Feeding Patterns and the Development of Risk Factors for Obesity, Cardiovascular Disease & Diabetes in Early Childhood - Understand the impact of early infant feeding patterns on development of risk factors for obesity, heart disease and metabolic syndrome will provide critical information for development of effective intervention early strategies for reducing the incidence of these chronic debilitating conditions. 4) Investigation of Dietary Intakes of Children - Identify eating pattern "typologies" associated with diet quality & obesity in children & young adults from a biracial population, using cross-sectional & longitudinal approaches. 5) Dietary & Genetic Interactions of Isothiocyanates - In spite of the high chemopreventive potential of isothiocyantes, present in high concentrations of brassica vegetables, critical gaps in our knowledge exist on their intake & function in children & ethnic groups. An understanding how isothiocyanates induce protection in different genotypes will increase their use in cancer prevention. 6) A Longitudinal Study of Athletic Self-Concept & PA Behavior in Children & Adolescents - Determine the relationship between athletic identity, PA, & weight gain in a study of adolescents. 7) Prevention & Treatment of Obesity in Children - Utilize motiviational interventions to prevent & treat childhood obesity. 8) Predicting & Explaining Youth PA Behavior - test a promising theoretical model of youth physical activity and to validate scales measuring its constructs. 9) Helping HAND - develop and evaluate an obesity prevention program for pediatric primary care clinics.

Approach:
Survey instruments will be constructed/validated to determine different groups of populations' association between perceived barriers/facilitators & actual DGA adherence. 1) Biological Influences on Children's Diet & PA: Integrate how biological/psychosocial variables influence diet/PA using sensitivity to bitter taste (PROP), as biological influence on dietary intake; & adiposity, as biological influence on PA. 2) Development & Testing of Interventions to Promote Healthy Dietary Behavior among Youth for Chronic Disease Prevention: Evaluate related dietary interventions with children. 3) Investigation of Dietary Intakes of Children: Conduct sophisticated analyses of eating patterns & diet quality of 1243 children/1840 young adults as they relate to obesity, using Bogalusa Heart Study database compiled from 1973-96 surveys. 4) Dietary & Genetic Interactions of Isothiocyanates: Undertake short- & moderate-term approach to advance present methodology for measuring dietary intake of isothiocyanates & metabolic activity they induce. Findings expected to provide specific targets for preventative & therapeutic interventions that will be particularly important to older children. 5) Longitudinal Study of Athletic Self-Concept & Physical Activity Behavior in Children & Adolescents: Obtain student measures on Athletic identity questionnaire, utilizing activity monitors, evaluating parental measures & gaining an insight into teacher measures for the child. 6) Prevention & Treatment of Obesity in Children: Conduct series of studies to develop data collection protocol for future studies, & review datasets to understand possible correlations between socioeconomic status, dietary intake, media as they relate to obesity. 7) Predicting & Explaining Youth PA Behavior: Literature review will permit understanding of variable definition and will permit scale construction. Cognitive interviews will initiate the pilot testing of the scales followed by an analysis utilizing 500 participants. 8) Helping HAND: Will target parents to improve their parenting practices to provide a less obesogenic home environment for children who are at risk for overweight or are already overweight.