Weight Management Study
Effectiveness of medical nutrition therapy for adult obesity is being studied through a prospective, randomized clinical trial examining the efficacy of three different weight management programs on resting metabolic rate and long-term weight loss. Each weight management intervention was 20-weeks long and subjects’ one-year follow-up visits were completed in December 2004. Fifty-nine subjects were enrolled in the study and 25 subjects completed the study. Data have been scanned and databases are currently being created. Data analysis will be conducted in the spring with publications submitted in the summer and fall of 2006. This project is being conducted with support from the General Clinical Research Center.
Heart Links Project: Community Nutrition Intervention
In the fall of 2004, Connolly-Schoonen put together a research team to address the pediatric obesity epidemic from a community perspective. This work is supported by the NYSDOH-funded Heart Links project. The broad goals are as follows:
- to model the production of pediatric obesity – specifically the strength of influence of the school environment on obesity prevalence among student populations;
- to explore factors contributing to the effective development, adoption and implementation of policies to improve the quality of food available to children throughout the school environment;
- to study the effectiveness (as well as cost-effectiveness) of policy interventions in decreasing the rate of increase in prevalence of obesity among school-aged children using schools and grades as the unit of analysis; and
- to study the effectiveness of implementing a high school and/or parent advocacy program on creating and implementing nutrition policies to improve the quality of foods available in schools.
Full implementation of the program will take place in receptive school districts over the 2006-2007 school years, once pilot testing is complete. This project will result in a number of papers to be prepared in 2006-2008 as post-intervention data are collected. Initial papers will be on a review of the literature regarding youth-led health advocacy programs and fields of influence on the production of pediatric obesity.
