Childhood Obesity Prevention
The childhood obesity epidemic
has important repercussions for public health, threatening to reverse
the
gains in life expectancy achieved over the last two centuries. Today,
more than a third of young people in the United States are overweight
or obese.
Childhood obesity is a complex topic involving genetic
and environmental factors. Prevention
efforts can be incorporated into home, health care, child care, school,
and community
settings and include:
- Healthy
eating
- Appropriate physical activity
- Providing nurturing environments
- Fostering
a healthy body image
Below are potential project ideas
that would be appropriate for this funding priority:
- Ensuring daily, quality physical education in all school grades.
- Reducing screen time spent watching television and
other sedentary behaviors.
- Building physical activity
into regular routines and playtime for children and their families
to help achieve
recommended levels of physical activity each day.
- Making community
infrastructure (built environment) more accessible
for physical activity.
- Promoting healthier food choices,
such as consuming recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables.
- Ensuring schools provide healthy foods and beverages on campus
and at school events.
- Promoting culturally appropriate interventions
to address disparities in the prevalence of childhood obesity
among various racial and ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, and age groups.
- Educating expectant parents about the benefits of breastfeeding,
as breastfed infants may be less likely to become
overweight as they grow older.
- Educating health care
providers and health professional students in the prevention and
treatment of childhood
obesity.
- Emphasizing the individual’s role in making wise
food and physical activity choices by providing
age-appropriate education
in schools, youth service organizations, or family
and community settings.
- Addressing issues of healthy food access,
dietary choices, and health by improving food production/distribution
networks.
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