From the 1970s to 2004, the incidence of overweight in American children ages 6 -11 years old more than quadrupled. Research has shown that overweight children suffer from a vast number of psychological, social, and medical complications. Development of overweight status in childhood is influenced by a wide range of environmental factors such as dietary intake, advertising influences, television viewing, parental role modeling, and school influences. The American Dietetic Association recommends prevention of excess weight gain rather than treatment via a primary or secondary prevention method. A limited number of studies have focused on a family and school-based, multi-component prevention programs in children as young as 7 and 8 years of age. No published studies were found to have implemented this type of prevention in rural Appalachian children. Rural Appalachia is a region of the U.S. that is subject to higher incidence of poverty, obesity, and health disparities.
The goal of this study was to establish a new research design for prevention of overweight development among rural Appalachian children. The results of this study indicate that children with nutrition education choose healthier foods, indicated by the increase in the amount of milk consumption and dietary intake of magnesium. The results also indicated that 16 weeks is insufficient time to see body composition changes from exercise sessions or dietary intervention. Because a prevention study was implemented, the implications of this research can not be determined until the children in this study are examined in the future.