Abstract

National nutritional surveys indicate that children and adolescents are eating a diet that does not meet recommended intakes of fruits and vegetables and exceeds recommended intake of energy from total fat. These dietary patterns, that are learned in childhood and track into adulthood, predispose our youth for increased risk of some types of cancer, including breast, colon and stomach cancer. Populations that are of lower socioeconomic status have higher incidence rates of these and other cancers. This study proposes to implement a two-year, multi-component school-based program targeting multi-ethnic, lower socioeconomic students, their families, and their school environment to increase student intake of fruits and vegetables and to reduce their intake of calories form total fat. A randomized community trial design will be employed with 20 schools from two inner-city school districts (Minneapolis and St. Paul) being randomized to either the intervention or the delayed-program condition. These schools enroll a disproportionately large number of Minnesota minority children and children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Interventions will be implemented in the academic years 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 when students from the Class of 2004 are in their sixth and seventh grade. Formative evaluation will be conducted to determine messages and intervention strategies that are culturally appropriate and relevant. Intervention components will be comprised of 1) school curricula addressing eating cues, the influence of advertising on food choices and barriers to healthful food choices; 2) a home intervention component designed to facilitate student-parent discussions regarding dietary choices, increase parental awareness of the influence of the home environment on adolescent food choices, and increase the availability of healthful food choices in the home and 3) a school environment component targeting food availability, food cues and food-related incentives in the school environment.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA071943-04
Application #
6173409
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG2-SSP (01))
Program Officer
Nebeling, Linda C
Project Start
1997-08-01
Project End
2002-11-30
Budget Start
2000-06-01
Budget End
2002-11-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$512,488
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Public Health
DUNS #
555917996
City
Minneapolis
State
MN
Country
United States
Zip Code
55455

  Publications

Pasch, Keryn E; Klein, Elizabeth G; Laska, Melissa N et al. (2011) Weight misperception and health risk behaviors among early adolescents. Am J Health Behav 35:797-806
Pasch, Keryn E; Nelson, Melissa C; Lytle, Leslie A et al. (2008) Adoption of risk-related factors through early adolescence: associations with weight status and implications for causal mechanisms. J Adolesc Health 43:387-93
Klein, Elizabeth G; Lytle, Leslie A; Chen, Vincent (2008) Social ecological predictors of the transition to overweight in youth: results from the Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at Schools (TEENS) study. J Am Diet Assoc 108:1163-9
Murray, David M; Blitstein, Jonathan L; Hannan, Peter J et al. (2007) Sizing a trial to alter the trajectory of health behaviours: methods, parameter estimates, and their application. Stat Med 26:2297-316
Lytle, Leslie A; Kubik, Martha Y; Perry, Cheryl et al. (2006) Influencing healthful food choices in school and home environments: results from the TEENS study. Prev Med 43:8-13
Motl, Robert W; McAuley, Edward; Birnbaum, Amanda S et al. (2006) Naturally occurring changes in time spent watching television are inversely related to frequency of physical activity during early adolescence. J Adolesc 29:19-32
Blitstein, Jonathan L; Murray, David M; Lytle, Leslie A et al. (2005) Predictors of violent behavior in an early adolescent cohort: similarities and differences across genders. Health Educ Behav 32:175-94
Kubik, Martha Y; Lytle, Leslie A; Story, Mary (2005) Soft drinks, candy, and fast food: what parents and teachers think about the middle school food environment. J Am Diet Assoc 105:233-9
Lytle, Leslie A; Murray, David M; Perry, Cheryl L et al. (2004) School-based approaches to affect adolescents' diets: results from the TEENS study. Health Educ Behav 31:270-87
Janega, Jessica B; Murray, David M; Varnell, Sherri P et al. (2004) Assessing the most powerful analysis method for school-based intervention studies with alcohol, tobacco, and other drug outcomes. Addict Behav 29:595-606

Showing the most recent 10 out of 26 publications