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Increasing exposure to nutrition and physical activity in African American (AA) preschool children utilizing Head Start programs in Detroit: Baseline descriptors from the Healthy Kids, Healthy Lives project
Author(s) -
Brogan Kathryn,
Yeh Yulyu,
Akil Nesrine,
Khosla Pramod,
Danford Cindy,
Jen KL Catherine
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.736.18
Subject(s) - overweight , underweight , medicine , obesity , head start , childhood obesity , environmental health , physical activity , gerontology , demography , psychology , physical therapy , developmental psychology , sociology
Shaping the food and exercise environment during early childhood is a critical need. The Healthy Kids Healthy Lives (HKHL) project was developed to instill principles of healthier preferences and behaviors for young children. HKHL provides daily 30‐minute exercise or nutrition classes for six Detroit Head Start preschools. Preliminary data included BMI, lipid profile, frequency of food intake, food preference assessment using a nutrition picture game, and perceptions of healthfulness of pairs of foods. A convenience sample of 123 preschool children (57% male, 99% AA), revealed 8% underweight, 60% normal weight, 13% overweight and 19% obese. Prevalence of both overweight and obesity was higher than the national average; 17% had a borderline/high total cholesterol (TC), 29% did not meet HDL recommendations, 6% had triglyceride levels above 150 mg/dl and 16% had a borderline/high LDL. BMI was positively correlated with TC (r = 0.20, p<0.05), LDL ( r = 0.24, p<0.05) and non‐HDL (r=0.24 p<0.01). A trend (p=0.1) toward higher scores in reported frequency of healthier food consumption was found in the under and normal weight children compared to the overweight and obese children. No difference was found in food preference or perceptions of healthfulness based on weight. The goal of the HKHL program is to impact these high‐risk preschool children through daily exposure to healthy lifestyle practices.