Obesity

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Assistant professor and nutrition expert Jamie Stang discusses the recent report that finds Minnesota children have the lowest rate of obesity in the nation — tying with Utah at just over 23 percent. She also explains why Minnesota might be seeing lower rates.

Adolescents are eating more fast food today than they did in the late-1990s, explains researcher Katherine Bauer. And as students move from middle school to high school the rate increases dramatically.

Multipronged attack on obesity

SPH faculty member Kathryn Schmitz explores the impact physical activity, like biking to work, can have on the prevention and management of obesity.

Obesity has an effect on just about every aspect of society, from the big picture of health care economics to the everyday dynamics of the family dinner table.

According to the CDC, the direct medical cost of obesity in the United States is $93 billion, or 9 percent of the nation’s medical bill. That it is a health problem of enormous proportion has become undeniable.

At the School of Public Health, researchers in myriad areas devote much of their time to understanding the obesity problem and helping to prevent it. Here’s a sampling:

Epidemiology faculty member Robert Jeffery is a national expert on obesity and Type 2 diabetes, one of its most dangerous consequences. During the last two decades, he has written hundreds of papers on the subject.

In an interview with U.S News and World Report, Jeffery gives his opinions on obesity prevention in schools and states, “We don’t want to see parents outliving their kids, but that could very well happen.”

MINNoWS study looks at infant nutrition

The exploration of obesity and children’s health continues with SPH faculty member Ellen Demerath and her Minnesota Infant Nutrition and Neurodevelopment Obesity Study—or MINNoWS.

We know that babies who gain weight rapidly have twice the risk of obesity compared to babies with more gradual weight gain. But determining how much weight gain is fat as opposed to lean tissue has been difficult. Demerath is using a state-of-the-art device known as the Pea Pod to learn more about that important factor.

Project EAT

The information gleaned from Dianne Neumark-Sztainer’s ongoing Project EAT (Eating Among Teens) has resulted in scores of publications—both scholarly and popular. The data about diet, physical activity, and weight from nearly 5,000 adolescents attending 31 middle and high schools in Minnesota is used to determine which factors influence teenage eating and activity habits. The finding on the benefits of family meals have been particularly influential.  

Public health experts agree that diet is only one side of the obesity equation. Physical activity is the other. Faculty member Kathryn Schmitz is looking at the impact physical activity can have on the prevention and management of obesity. Her research projects have included the SHE (Strong, Healthy, and Empowered) study to assess the efficacy of twice-weekly strength training for preventing age-associated body fat increases in overweight midlife women, and the Twin Cities Walking Study, that assess the correlation of the physical environment with physical activity.

Schmitz gave the Carl J. Martinson lecture on her research.

To further understand and respond to the epidemic of excessive weight gain, the University created the Obesity Prevention Center (OPC), co-directed by Robert Jeffery and Mary Story. Please peruse its many links and sections to gain a broader picture of obesity-reduction and prevention efforts at the University and the School of Public Health.

Other SPH faculty involved with obesity research

Professor Mary Story and her colleagues in the Public Health Nutrition program are exploring the environment from different levels—home, school, workplace, restaurants, and the media—in an attempt to make it more conducive to healthy lifestyles.

Associate professor Lisa Harnack is looking at whether providing nutrition information on fast food restaurant menus affects the choices customers make.

SPH assistant professor Cavan Reilly is  on a research team that is studying how genes found in the brain may affect the body’s ability to fight obesity.