Effective multi-level, multi-sector, school-based obesity prevention programming improves weight, blood pressure, and academic performance, especially among low-income, minority children.

Introduction: Successfully addressing childhood onset obesity requires multilevel (individual, community, and governmental), multi-agency collaboration.

Methods: The Healthier Options for Public Schoolchildren (HOPS)/OrganWise Guys (OWG) quasi-experimental controlled pilot study (four intervention schools, one control school, total N=3,769; 50.2% Hispanic) was an elementary school-based obesity prevention intervention designed to keep children at a normal, healthy weight, and improve health status and academic achievement.

Effect of a two-year obesity prevention intervention on percentile changes in body mass index and academic performance in low-income elementary school children.

Objectives: We assessed the effects of a school-based obesity prevention intervention that included dietary, curricula, and physical activity components on body mass index (BMI) percentiles and academic performance among low-income elementary school children.

Methods: The study had a quasi-experimental design (4 intervention schools and 1 control school; 4588 schoolchildren; 48% Hispanic) and was conducted over a 2-year period. Data are presented for the subset of the cohort who qualified for free or reduced-price school lunches (68% Hispanic; n = 1197).

Healthier options for public schoolchildren program improves weight and blood pressure in 6- to 13-year-olds.

Childhood obesity and related health consequences continue to be major clinical and public health issues in the United States. Schools provide an opportunity to implement obesity prevention strategies to large and diverse pediatric audiences. Healthier Options for Public Schoolchildren was a quasiexperimental elementary school-based obesity prevention intervention targeting ethnically diverse 6- to 13-year-olds (kindergarten through sixth grade).

The national cholesterol education program diet vs a diet lower in carbohydrates and higher in protein and monounsaturated fat: a randomized trial.

Background: In the United States, obesity is a major clinical and public health problem causing diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension, as well as increasing cardiovascular and total mortality. Dietary restrictions of calories and saturated fat are beneficial. However, it remains unclear whether replacement of saturated fat with carbohydrates (as in the US National Cholesterol Education Program [NCEP] diet) or protein and monounsaturated fat (as in our isocaloric modified low-carbohydrate [MLC] diet, which is lower in total carbohydrates but higher in protein, monounsaturated fat, and complex carbohydrates) is optimal.