Obesity online educational resource offers insight into widespread disease

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — How is America’s food environment influencing obesity? Are there unforeseen consequences to eating out as a family? What are the causes and consequences of being obese? What can be done to change society’s food environment?

According to research done on the top 12 fast food and neighborhood restaurant chains, there are over 3,000 combinations of meals a child could choose from, but only a dozen combinations meet nutrition standards and dietary guidelines. Did you know that what a mother eats while she is pregnant may influence her child’s risk for being overweight?

A team of obesity experts created an online resource to help people learn more facts like this about obesity prevention.

The project includes over 20 course modules covering topics relevant to obesity from biological components to cultural interventions. The modules include informational videos as well as additional instructor material, such as test questions, class activities, and optional readings to inform the public. The project’s goal is to develop a “flip-the-classroom” curriculum on obesity prevention.

The Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Research Sciences is a multi-site project produced by Purdue University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and California State University, Fresno, and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The purpose of the project is to help educate students, teachers and the general public on childhood obesity. The site is housed at Purdue’s STEM edHUB.

The project was led by Dorothy Teegarden, professor of nutrition science at Purdue University; Barbara Fiese, professor and director of the Family Resiliency Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Brenda Davis Koester, assistant director of the Family Resiliency Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Amber Hammons, associate professor in the Department of Child and Family Science at California State University, Fresno. 

Writer: Madison Sanneman, 317-903-5642, msannema@purdue.edu  

Media Contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9273, apatterson@purdue.edu  

Source: Dorothy Teegarden, dteegard@purdue.edu