LA Sprouts: A garden/nutrition intervention to improve health for high-risk youth

描述(申请人提供)：美国儿童肥胖问题的严重性要求为我国未来的健康和成功制定有效的、创新的预防和干预策略。最近，成立了有史以来第一个联邦特别工作组，开始解决儿童肥胖症的流行问题，其中一个关键支柱是让家庭更负担得起和更容易获得健康食品，并将园艺作为参与公众的主要工具。然而，很少有精心设计的实验研究严格评估以花园为基础的营养干预对肥胖和相关代谢紊乱的影响，特别是在高危青年人群中。我们最近开发并演示了在4-5年级学生中试行为期12周的课后园艺/营养干预(“LA芽”)，改善了超重学生的膳食纤维和蔬菜摄入量，增加了对水果和蔬菜的偏好，改善了烹饪和园艺技能，并降低了血压和体重增加率。然而，这项先导研究并不是一项随机对照试验，是在校外社区花园进行的，包括最低限度的父母因素。考虑到支持联邦倡议的基于研究的试验的稀少，额外的研究是有必要的。该项目的目标是扩大我们的LA Sprouts试点研究，并进行以学校花园为基础的随机营养和园艺干预，利用课余时间在校园里的课程和周末在附近社区花园举行的家庭工作坊，以改善拉美裔儿童(8-11岁)的膳食摄入量，减少肥胖和相关的代谢紊乱。将随机分为两个地区，每个地区有两所小学(总共有400名3-5年级学生，90%是拉丁裔)和一个社区花园：1)LA Sprouts(12周课后园艺/营养课+双月家庭讲习班；两所学校，n=200名学生)；或2)对照(延迟干预；两所学校，n=200名学生)。该项目将评估LA Sprouts计划对饮食摄入和相关行为以及肥胖和相关代谢紊乱的影响。我们假设，与对照组相比，参加LA Sprouts的学生将消费更多的水果和蔬菜，具有更高的吃水果和蔬菜的偏好、动机和自我效能，并减少肥胖和代谢风险因素。 公共卫生相关性：鉴于美国儿童肥胖问题的严重性，以及支持最近联邦反肥胖倡议的基于研究的试验的缺乏，该倡议利用目前的园艺势头，有必要评估园艺干预措施如何影响饮食摄入/行为，以及肥胖和相关的代谢性疾病风险，特别是在高危拉丁裔人口中。这项研究将首次进行随机对照园艺和营养干预，以减少高危拉丁裔青年的肥胖和代谢障碍。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The enormity of the problem of childhood obesity in the US requires that effective, innovative prevention and intervention strategies be developed for the future health and success of our Country. Recently, the formation of the first-ever federal task force began to address this childhood obesity epidemic, with one of the key pillars being making healthy foods more affordable and accessible for families, and uses gardening as a primary vehicle to engage the public. However, few well-designed experimental studies exist that rigorously evaluate the impact of garden-based nutrition interventions on obesity and related metabolic disorders specifically in high-risk youth populations. We recently developed and demonstrated that a pilot 12-week after-school gardening/nutrition intervention ("LA Sprouts") in 4th - 5th grade students improved dietary fiber and vegetable intake, increased preference for fruit and vegetable intake, improved cooking and gardening skills, and decreased blood pressure and rate of weight gain in overweight students. However, this pilot study was not a randomized controlled trial, was conducted off-campus at a community garden and included a minimal parental component. Given the paucity of research-based trials supporting the federal initiative, additional studies are warranted. The goal of this project is to extend our LA Sprouts pilot study, and conduct a school-garden-based randomized nutrition and gardening intervention, utilizing lessons on campus during after school hours and family workshops at nearby community gardens on weekends, to improve dietary intake and reduce obesity and related metabolic disorders in Latino children (ages 8-11 years). Two regions, each with two elementary schools (a total of 400 3rd-5th graders, >90% Latino) and a participating community garden will be randomized into either: 1) LA Sprouts (12-week after school gardening/nutrition classes + bi-monthly family workshops; two schools, n=200 students); or 2) Control (Delayed intervention; two schools, n=200 students). This project will assess the effects of the LA Sprouts program on dietary intake and related behaviors, and obesity and related metabolic disorders. We hypothesize that students participating in LA Sprouts will consume more fruits and vegetables, have increased preference, motivation, and self-efficacy to eat fruits and vegetables, and have reduced obesity and metabolic risk factors compared to controls. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Given the enormity of the problem of childhood obesity in the US and the paucity of research-based trials supporting the recent federal anti-obesity initiative which draws on the current momentum for gardening, there is a need to evaluate how a gardening intervention impacts dietary intake/behaviors, and obesity and related metabolic disease risk, especially in a high-risk Latino population. This study will be the first to conduct a randomized controlled gardening and nutrition intervention to reduce obesity and metabolic disorders in high-risk Latino youth.