Background: Schools may be an effective avenue for interventions that prevent childhood obesity. "I am Moving I am Learning/Choosy Kids"© (IMIL/CK) is a curriculum recommended by Head Start (HS) for education in nutrition, physical activity, and healthy lifestyle habits. Methods: We formed an academic-community partnership (ACP), the…

Background: We compared moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) and inactivity levels among fifth and sixth graders during school hours according to school-level race/ethnicity and income attributes to inform school-based obesity interventions in Illinois Suburban Cook County (SCC). Methods: Fifth- and sixth-grade students…

African American (AA) girls aged 10-12 living in urban communities designated as food deserts have a significantly greater prevalence of overweight and obesity than girls that age in the general population. The purpose of our study was (a) to examine the agreement in nutritional intake between AA girls aged 10-12 and their mothers and (b) to…

Childhood obesity remains a problem in the United States. Preschool teachers can help to attenuate it but need to have the confidence or self-efficacy to provide healthy practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to (a) develop and validate a preschool teacher self-efficacy tool to examine teachers' confidence in addressing the nutrition…

Community organizing brings Latina/o families together to enhance repertoires of culturally relevant practices to promote health and curriculum. The Healthy Schools Campaign, a 4-year environmental justice partnership between public health researchers and Latina/o organizations in 2 neighborhoods of Chicago, was formed to confront the epidemics of…

The latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) identify 34% of American adults as obese and another 33% as overweight. Since children tend to mimic adult behavior, adults not only hurt themselves when they practice poor eating and exercise habits, they also hurt their children. With only one-third of adults modeling…

Asthma is the most prevalent chronic illness in childhood affecting 7 million youth. Many youth with asthma face another risk factor in obesity. Obesity, in turn, increases disorders such as asthma. Studies have recommended that asthma programs also address weight management in youth. Taking this into consideration, the I Can Control Asthma and…

School nurses play an important role in identifying students who are at risk for Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Few studies have screened Caucasian students, and none have targeted rural, low-income, elementary children. The five noninvasive risk factors used for this study were family history, high body mass index (BMI) for age/sex,…

Background: School-based body mass index (BMI) measurement has attracted much attention across the nation from researchers, school officials, legislators, and the media as a potential approach to address obesity among youth. Methods: An expert panel, convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2005, reviewed and provided…

Background: Despite the growing number of school-based interventions designed to reduce childhood obesity or otherwise promote health, no models or materials were found for Jewish schools. The current study describes an effort within a Jewish school system in Chicago to create, implement, and evaluate a school-based intervention tailored to the…

A sample of 356 matched cases of overfat, overweight, and obese students were tracked for three years during high school to test the hypothesis that obese ninth grade students were more likely to be obese as twelfth-grade students than non-obese ninth graders were. Results are presented. (Author/MT)

This article reports the first estimates of overweight prevalence in Chicago children entering school (aged 3-5 years). Chicago data are compared with those from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS). Data were from 2 separate convenience samples of children aged 3-5 years…

This article summarizes the efforts of legislators in studying up on what they might do to affect how well kids learn after the summer break. Some of the legislators' work leaned toward improving students' health, while some targeted dropouts or civic education. Most of the capitol-dome work appears to have matched the typical garden: a few…

Nutritional status and biochemical risk factors for chronic disease were assessed in 48 community-dwelling adults with Down syndrome in the Chicago area. Dietary intake was measured using a food frequency questionnaire completed by the participant's primary caregiver; anthropometric measures included height and weight and waist circumference.…