MSU is leading a $4.7 million project aimed at combating childhood obesity, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week, according to MSU Today.
Childhood obesity is still prevalent, and still a problem in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 17 percent of young people (roughly 12.7 million) — ages 2 to 19 — were obese as recently as 2012. The numbers are more grave for teenagers — 20.5 percent of people aged 12 to 19 were obese.
The MSU project is a five-year plan which is part of a $42 million nationwide project being run through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, MSU Today reported.
Holly Brophy-Herb, a professor in the MSU College of Social Science, is leading the project. The project is analyzing mealtimes among low-income families, according to MSU Today.
"The primary goal of our study is to test the effectiveness of differing levels of support in increasing the frequency of healthy family meals,” Brophy-Herb said to MSU Today. “Results from this study are expected to have important implications for policies related to supports for economically-vulnerable families and for the practices of family support programs aimed at increasing child and family health and well-being."
The first year of the study will be funded by more than $830,000, and each of the next four years will see an increase in funding equal to $4.7 million.
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