As the number of children affected by obesity increases in the United States, it is necessary to intervene with preventive and intervention techniques that will enact change. Because children spend a significant amount of their time in school, it is of particular interest to target strategies during the school day. Given the recommendations for…

The physical activity potential and physiological and motivational benefits of active gaming have been a hot topic in the past few years. It is easy to see why active games are popular among certain populations, particularly those with prior or current video game experience. Video games are fun to play and challenging, give a player total control,…

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the influence of childhood obesity on energetic cost during normal walking and to determine if obese children choose a walking strategy optimizing their gait pattern. Method: Sixteen obese children with no functional abnormalities were matched by age and gender with 16 normal-weight children. All…

Background. Family homes are a key setting for developing lifelong eating and physical activity habits, yet little is known about how family home nutrition and physical activity (FNPA) environments influence food insecurity (FI) and childhood obesity, particularly in rural settings. Aims. This study examined associations among FNPA, FI, and body…

Background: Regular physical activity (PA) has multiple benefits to health; however, the majority of schoolchildren do not reach PA guidelines of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) daily. During the school day, break times are often the only opportunity for children to be physically active. This study investigated PA levels during school…

Background: Motivating Adolescents with Technology to CHOOSE Health™ (MATCH) is an educational and behavioral intervention in seventh grade. Methods: Teachers in 2 schools delivered the MATCH curriculum, with 1 control school. Using a quasi-experimental design, outcome measures included lessons completed, body mass index (BMI), BMI z-score (zBMI),…

Background: Evidence suggests that children gain more weight during the summer months compared with the school year. To examine the impact of the school and summer environment on children's weight further, we conducted a 5-year longitudinal study examining changes in standardized BMI (zBMI) of students entering kindergarten. Methods: Heights and…

Objective: The current study examines the relationship between obesity and academic performance among second grade students. We hypothesized that students who were overweight or obese would have poorer grades than students who were normal weight. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Seven elementary schools from a southeast Texas Independent School…

Schools are positioned to play a key role in nurturing students with knowledge and behaviours associated with healthful living. Our study examined the effects of an intervention on energy balance (EB) knowledge. Twelve 6th and 7th grade classrooms (n = 140) were assigned to receive either two standardised lessons on EB or a combined intervention…

Objectives: To examine the association between frequency of breakfast consumption and body mass index (BMI) among elementary students participating in a traditional School Breakfast Program (SBP) in a school district that is implementing a Farm to School (F2S) program compared to those participating in a traditional SBP without F2S. Methods: This…

The purpose of this study is to compare the physical activity levels, physical activity types, Body Mass Index (BMI) and body fat percentage (BF%) values of elementary school students living in rural and urban. Body height (BH), body weight (BW), BF% and BMI data were measured. Physical activity questionnaire was conducted to determine the…

Objective: Sample size and statistical power calculation should consider clustering effects when schools are the unit of randomization in intervention studies. The objective of the current study was to investigate how student outcomes are clustered within schools in an obesity prevention trial. Method: Baseline data from the Food, Health &…

This study assessed the anthropometrics and acanthosis nigricans (AN) in a sample of 7,337 children at two assessments. Four groups of children were identified based on the presence of AN at both time points: those who never had the marker, those who gained the marker, those who lost the marker, and those who maintained the marker. Group…

Eating problems are highly prevalent and seem to show continuity in children. Nevertheless, the effect of different maternal and paternal feeding practices on changes in these problems is not fully understood yet. This study examines short-term continuity in primary school children's overeating, loss of control (over eating), restraint and…

Purpose: Given the recent push to increase children's physical activity levels through whole-of-school approaches, the relationship between physical activity and academic achievement has received much attention. Therefore, this study sought to understand the relationship between academic achievement and healthy school transformations in urban…