This month marks the second annual Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, an initiative begun by President Obama last year to raise awareness about the problem of obesity in children and to encourage parents, educators, and health professionals to think creatively about ways to facilitate healthy eating and exercise choices in kids. Suggested activities include taking a family walk after dinner as often as possible this month or hosting community events that offer activities for families while providing information about local health resources.
If you’re looking for a way to contribute to the nationwide effort to reduce eating and weight problems in children and you have a healthy child between the ages of 5 and 10, consider volunteering for our Healthy Kids Study. The study is designed to help us learn more about how and why healthy kids choose the foods they eat. The kids in our study eat snacks and meals in our eating lab, play computer games, and answer questions about foods they like and don’t like.
Some kids aIso participate in a brain scan that uses safe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to take pictures of the kids’ brains while they play a food-related computer game. The Healthy Kids Study is a fun and easy way to celebrate National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month by helping scientists better understand eating behavior in children.
Your participation will take us one step closer to understanding the problem of childhood obesity and improving the health of the next generation.
Photo Credit (front): Public Domain Image by Amanda Mills, USCDC.
