The Louisiana (LA) Health Project

There is a worldwide pandemic of obesity with far-reaching consequences for the health of our
nation. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
Prevention of obesity, especially in children, has been deemed by public health policy makers
to be one of the most important objectives for our country. Obesity disproportionately
affects citizens of minority and low socioeconomic status. A consensus of opinion has formed
that the recently observed increased prevalence of obesity is caused by environmental and
behavioral factors that favor easy access to high calorie foods and sedentary behavior. This
prevention project, called LA Health, will test whether modification of these environmental
and behavioral factors can prevent inappropriate weight gain in children who are enrolled in
the fourth to sixth grades during Year 1. The primary aims of the LA Health project are to
test the efficacy of two school-based approaches for obesity prevention. The two approaches
are derived from two NIH-funded pilot studies called the HIPTeens project (a secondary
prevention program) and the Wise Mind project (a primary prevention program). The study will
test the efficacy of primary prevention alone and a combination of primary and secondary
prevention in comparison to a no-treatment control group using a cluster randomization
research design, with 18 school clusters from 9 different parishes randomly assigned to the
three treatment arms. The following parishes were selected for the project: East Carroll,
Madison, Franklin, East Feliciana, St. John, St. Helena, Pointe Coupee, Avoyelles, and Sabine
Parishes. Thus far East Carroll, East Feliciana, St. John, Pointe Coupee, and Avoyelles
Parishes have agreed to participate. We anticipate adding additional parishes in the second
year of the project.The project will collaborate with a USDE funded project, LA GEAR UP, to
test the relative efficacy obesity prevention programs for children who come from
economically disadvantaged environments. The LA GEAR UP program is designed to enhance
educational achievement. Since LA GEAR UP will be implemented in all 18 school clusters, all
of the preventions intervention arms, including no-treatment, will be combined with an
academic enhancement program. The study will span three years and will provide critical tests
of strategies that modify the child's environment as a primary prevention strategy and
provide health behavior modification via classroom instruction and internet counseling as a
secondary prevention strategy. The study will also recruit a similar (but smaller) sample of
students to measure changes in body weight relative to height, gender, and age over the same
three-year period. This observation only control group will be studied to evaluate secular
trends in changes in body weight so that body weight changes observed in the randomized trial
can be interpreted within the context of stable versus unstable population changes in body
weight. The results of this investigation will significantly impact public health policy
related to obesity prevention in rural communities, minority communities, and in children
from families that are economically disadvantaged.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Being one of the LA GEAR UP middle schools or a feeder elementary school

- Having an enrollment of at least 100 students per school

- All students in grades 4-6 of participating schools

Exclusion Criteria: