Play in Obesity Prevention

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Nutrition 1322

Class of Saturday 8:00am to 11:20am

Abstract II: What Role Can Child-Care Settings Play in Obesity Prevention? A Review of the Evidence and Call for Research Efforts

Purpose:

The study was made for the purpose of promoting healthy eating and physical activity, and for preventing obesity in preschool-aged children attending child care. The researchers want to prove that a method can be found to avoid child obesity in child care settings for future children.

Method:

The way they went about it is by completing Searches in Pub Med and MEDLINE to identify relevant, peer-reviewed research studies published between January 2000 and July 2010. The researchers used articles focused on children between aged 2 to 5 years enrolled at child-care centers or family child-care homes.

Was also included in the research , In addition to peer-reviewed studies, reports from federal agencies were included to describe the most recent data on the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Head Start Program. One study surveyed 508 parents of children attending child-care centers in North Carolina regarding their perceptions of meal offerings and opportunities for physical activity

Result:

Some results concerning state regulation is that four recent reviews of state regulations found that most states lacked strong regulations related to healthy eating and physical activity. Child-care centers tended to be the most heavily regulated and have more specific regulations, followed by large family and group child-care homes.

Research indicates that in some results, parents are unlikely to recognize a preschool-aged child is obese and a considerable proportion of parents of normal-weight children perceive their child to be underweight.

Application:

Practicing healthy eating behaviors during early childhood is critical to support optimal growth and development, to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, and to ensure overall health in adulthood.

Opinion:

It is interesting to see that a study like this