Shape Up Somerville's return on investment: Multi-group exposure generates net-benefits in a child obesity intervention.

Community-based interventions may reduce and prevent childhood obesity by transforming the environments in which children live, learn, and play through a series of interventions implemented throughout the community that encourage healthy behaviors. While empirical support is building for the effectiveness of such interventions, little is known about the economic costs and benefits of community-wide childhood obesity interventions. This study examined whether the benefits of a community-wide, child-focused, obesity prevention intervention, Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart Play Hard (SUS), exceeded its costs by estimating its return on investment.

Prevalence and Correlates of Missing Meals Among High School Students-United States, 2010.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence and correlates of missing meals among adolescents.

Design: The 2010 National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Study, a cross-sectional study.

Setting: School based.

Healthier School Environment Leads to Decreases in Childhood Obesity: The Kearney Nebraska Story.

Background: Schools play a role in addressing childhood obesity by implementing healthy eating and physical activity strategies. The primary aim of this case study was to describe prevalence of overweight and obesity among elementary school students in a rural Mid-western community between 2006 and 2012. The secondary aim was to use a novel approach called "population dose" to retrospectively evaluate the impact dose of each strategy implemented and its estimated potential population level impact on changes in overweight and obesity.

Shape Up Somerville: change in parent body mass indexes during a child-targeted, community-based environmental change intervention.

Objectives: We investigated the body mass index (BMI; weight in pounds/[height in inches](2) × 703) of parents whose children participated in Shape Up Somerville (SUS), a community-based participatory research study that altered household, school, and community environments to prevent and reduce childhood obesity.

Methods: SUS was a nonrandomized controlled trial with 30 participating elementary schools in 3 Massachusetts communities that occurred from 2002 to 2005. It included first-, second-, and third-grade children.

Vital signs: fruit and vegetable intake among children - United States, 2003-2010.

Background: Eating more fruits and vegetables adds underconsumed nutrients to diets, reduces the risks for leading causes of illness and death, and helps manage body weight. This report describes trends in the contributions of fruits and vegetables to the diets of children aged 2-18 years.

Methods: CDC analyzed 1 day of 24-hour dietary recalls from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 2003 to 2010 to estimate trends in children's fruit and vegetable intake in cup-equivalents per 1,000 calories (CEPC) and trends by sex, age, race/ethnicity, family income to poverty ratio, and obesity status.

Trends in weight management goals and behaviors among 9th-12th grade students: United States, 1999-2009.

To examine trends in weight management goals and behaviors among U.S. high school students during 1999-2009.

Preventing obesity through schools.

This paper describes highlights from the Weight of the Nation 2012 Schools Track. Included is a summary of 16 presentations. Presenters shared key actions for obesity prevention through schools.

Is Physical Fitness Associated with Health in Overweight and Obese Youth? A Systematic Review.

A systematic review of literature was conducted to examine the association between changes in health-related fitness (e.g. aerobic capacity and muscular strength /endurance) and chronic disease risk factors in overweight and/or obese youth.

Population-level intervention strategies and examples for obesity prevention in children.

With obesity affecting approximately 12.5 million American youth, population-level interventions are indicated to help support healthy behaviors. The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of population-level intervention strategies and specific intervention examples that illustrate ways to help prevent and control obesity in children through improving nutrition and physical activity behaviors.

The association between school-based physical activity, including physical education, and academic performance: a systematic review of the literature.

Objective: The purpose of this review is to synthesize the scientific literature that has examined the association between school-based physical activity (including physical education) and academic performance (including indicators of cognitive skills and attitudes, academic behaviors, and academic achievement).

Method: Relevant research was identified through a search of nine electronic databases using both physical activity and academic-related search terms. Forty-three articles (reporting a total of 50 unique studies) met the inclusion criteria and were read, abstracted, and coded for this synthesis.

Correlates of children and parents being physically active together.

Background: Co-physical activity (between parents and children), as an outcome variable, and its correlates have not been examined previously. The purpose of this study was to investigate correlates of co-physical activity among a nationally representative sample of 9- to 13-year-old children and their parents.

Methods: Data were from the 2004 Youth Media Campaign Longitudinal Survey, a national survey of 5177 child-parent dyads.

The identification of children with adverse risk factor levels by body mass index cutoffs from 2 classification systems: the Bogalusa Heart Study.

Background: The cutoffs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts and from the Cooper Institute (FitnessGram) are widely used to identify children who have a high body mass index (BMI).

Objective: We compared the abilities of these 2 systems to identify children who have adverse lipid concentrations and blood pressure measurements and the reliability (consistency) of each classification system over time (mean follow-up: 7 y).

Design: A cross-sectional analysis based on data from 22,896 examinations of 5- to 17-y-olds was conducted.

BMI measurement in schools.

Background And Objective: School-based BMI measurement has attracted attention across the nation as a potential approach to address obesity among youth. However, little is known about its impact or effectiveness in changing obesity rates or related physical activity and dietary behaviors that influence obesity. This article describes current BMI-measurement programs and practices, research, and expert recommendations and provides guidance on implementing such an approach.

Body mass index measurement in schools.

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 expertise on an earlier version of this article. The panel comprised experts in public health, education, school counseling, school medical care, and a parent organization.