Reducing the childhood obesity rate among low-income children in Van Nuys neighborhood nutrition education for 1st and 2nd grade students, parents & teachers

Includes bibliographical references (pages 48-51)Childhood obesity is one of the most predominant health concerns faced in the world today. Research has suggested that the intervention that brings promise to reducing the rates of childhood obesity is nutrition education. The project developed is a behavior-based intervention program created to increase nutritional knowledge and in turn impact the participants??? eating behaviors with a focus on increasing the daily consumption of fruits and vegetables. This project includes a nutrition curriculum that educates the parents, and children in the 1st and 2nd grade classrooms of Anatola, Cohasset, Gault Elementary Schools located in the city of Van Nuys, California. This project includes the development and implementation of nutrition education curricula that will educate the parents who attend the Parent Participation classes at each elementary school. The series of parent nutrition education curriculum will be delivered in Spanish due to the predominant population of Hispanics and will focus on the importance of consuming fruits and vegetables. As the lessons were delivered to the students, qualitative observations were noted; thus, allowing for modifications to lessons in order to improve the learning outcome. Food frequency surveys, blood glucose and cholesterol screenings were given during the Parent Participation class only. Future research is suggested to analyze the collected data