Project EAT (Eating Among Teens)

Project EAT was designed to investigate the factors influencing eating habits of adolescents, to determine if youth are meeting national dietary recommendations, and to explore dieting and physical activity patterns among youth. Through a greater understanding of the socioenvironmental, personal, and behavioral factors associated with diet and other weight-related behaviors during adolescence more effective nutrition interventions can be developed.

Projects EAT-I and EAT-II (Time 1 and Time 2 data collection) were supported by the Maternal and Child Health Program (Title V, Social Security Act), Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services (grants MCJ-270834 and R40 MC 00319). Projects EAT-III and EAT-2010 are currently funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health (grant R01HL084064).

Project investigators are faculty at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health and teach courses in Public Health Nutrition, Community Health Education, and Biostatistics.

Research Team

Project Investigators

• Dianne Neumark-Sztainer PhD, MPH, RD, Principal Investigator
• Mary Story, PhD, RD, Investigator
• Marla Eisenberg, ScD, MPH, Investigator
• Jayne Fulkerson, PhD Investigator
• Jerica Berge, PhD, LMFT Investigator
• John Sirard, PhD, Investigator
• Ann Forsyth, PhD, MA, Investigator/Consultant

Project Statisticians

• Melanie Wall, PhD
• Peter Hannan, Mstat
• Richard LacLehose, PhD

Project Director

• Nicole Larson, PhD, MPH, RD
• Katie Loth, MPH, RD