Many communities across America are changing public policy, community environments, and industry practices to better support healthy eating, physical activity, and healthier choices for kids and families so that all children are able to grow up at a healthy weight, and have a healthy start in life. Yet, with more than 23.5 million U.S. children and adolescents – nearly one in three young people – already overweight or obese, childhood obesity remains one of the most urgent health challenges of our time. Research in this area focuses on overweight and obesity trends, the impact of policies, systems, and environments on weight status, and interventions that promote a healthy weight.
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Healthy Weight
Research & Publications
October 2019
A Framework for Increasing Equity Impact in Obesity Prevention
One of the most pressing unmet challenges for preventing and controlling epidemic obesity is ensuring that socially disadvantaged populations benefit from relevant public health interventions. Obesity levels are disproportionately high in ethnic minority, low-income, and other socially marginalized U.S. population groups. Current policy, systems, and environmental change interventions target obesity-promoting … More
March 2016
The Impact of the First 1,000 Days on Childhood Obesity
The first 1,000 days, or the period from conception through age 2, is increasingly recognized as a critical period for the development of childhood obesity and its adverse consequences. This issue brief is based on two review papers that examined evidence on risk factors for developing childhood obesity and interventions … More
October 2017
Interventions to Prevent Global Childhood Overweight and Obesity: A Systematic Review
In this systematic review, investigators expand on previous reviews of obesity prevention interventions by including recent studies from all parts of the world. School-based interventions with combined diet and physical activity components and a home element had greatest effectiveness; evidence in support of the effect of preschool-based, community-based, and home-based … More
June 2017
Stress in Early Life and Childhood Obesity Risk
The association between stress in early life and obesity and overweight in adulthood is well established. There is also increasing evidence of a link between stress exposure in childhood (or in utero) and child and adolescent obesity. Major sources of early life stress include adverse childhood experiences (e.g., abuse), poverty, … More