LITTLE ROCK —Researchers at Arkansas Children Hospital announced Wednesday a new study of obesity in children and how it can be prevented.
“We have programs here at Children’s Hospital to try to address the treatment of children with obesity and complications associated with obesity to understand and do research to try to understand those issues,” Dr. Richard Jacobs, chairman of the hospital’s department of pediatrics, said during a news conference at the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center, located on the hospital campus.
“But I think anyone would understand that prevention is the key,” Jacobs said. “If we can direct research efforts to try to prevent child obesity, I think you can see the downstream beneficial effects, not only on those individuals and their families, but on society, on our country and on our ability to have the resources to do things we need to do.”
Jacobs said the new program, with a cost of $3 million to $5 million, will bring together a number of obesity-related projects already under way, including the federal Agriculture Department’s Garden Study in Arkansas middle schools and a study known as GLOWING (Growing Life. Optimizing Wellness), which looks at mothers’ diets and health influences and how they relate to a child’s growth and development.
“We are excited that we will be able to do more than ever before to change the lives of Arkansas kids, to protect them from the health risks associated with obesity,” said Judith Weber, who will serve as co-director of the new research program. She is currently principal investigator of the Delta Garden Study.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Tom Badger, co-director of the new research program, said the number of obese children has tripled since 1980.
“This is a major problem in both Arkansas and the nation and the world,” he said.
After the news conference, Jacobs said the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation raised about $8 million for renovation to a lab for the obesity research study.