Combating Childhood Obesity
Combating Childhood Obesity
December 2011
$2.8 Million NIH Grant Funds Investigation of Genetic, Prenatal, and Environmental Factors
Did you know that 79% of obesity prevention programs for children and adolescents report no significant long-term impact on participants? Most of these programs focus on diet, exercise, and behavior, but Associate Professor of Psychology Jody Ganiban is investigating other factors—genetic history, prenatal environment, and postnatal environment—that may be the root cause of childhood obesity, an epidemic that affects 12.5 million U.S. children and adolescents. Funded by a five-year $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, findings have the potential to change the way we tackle the growing waistlines of our nation’s youth.
“This study, which focuses on adopted children, their birth parents, and their adoptive parents, is important because it separates genetic influences on a child’s behavior from environmental influences,” said Ganiban, herself an adoptive parent. “It’s a unique population that enables us to tease apart genetic risks from environmental risks for obesity. Understanding how these risks work together could inform how we treat childhood obesity.”
In collaboration with researchers from the Oregon Social Learning Center and Pennsylvania State University, Ganiban and her team—Co-Investigator Phillip Moore, Project Director Amy Whitesel and GW Clinical Psychology graduate students Lara Zappaterra, Gina Raciti, and Fern Race—will explore ways in which genetic and environmental factors predict and influence a child’s risk for obesity. Their research expands on data collected through an earlier study on growth and development that examined a pool of 2,200 individuals, including 561 adopted children from birth to nine years of age.
To assess children’s genetic-based risk for obesity, birth parents of adopted children will be contacted and information about their body mass index (BMI) as well as food preferences, diets, and activity will be collected. Ganiban also plans to examine genes that have been related to child weight in previous studies. To assess prenatal risk, birth mothers will be asked questions about their pregnancies to examine factors during gestation such as weight gain, stress, and cigarette smoking that may have impacted the baby in-utero, and influenced metabolic processes related to weight. Based on these data, genetic and prenatal risk profiles will be created.
“Substantial pregnancy weight gain or failure to gain weight and nicotine exposure can alter a child’s metabolism before it’s born and increase the risk for obesity.” explained Ganiban. “And, learning about a birth parent’s BMI, physical and sedentary activity, and diet preferences would provide an index of a child’s genetic predisposition towards obesity.”
Another element of the study will be the postnatal family environment of the adopted children. Via phone interviews and online questionnaires, Ganiban and her team will assess family-based risk by examining the parenting practices that directly influence a child’s diet and behavior. In addition, the adoptive parents will be asked to catalog their children’s diets and record their sleep and physical and sedentary activity over a two-week period. These data, combined with the adoptive parents’ profiles, will inform the researchers about the postnatal environment of the children.
“We’re looking at the children’s behaviors in regards to food, sleep, and activity, all of which factor into their weight,” explained Ganiban.
Implications for Treatment and Intervention
By analyzing the genetic history, prenatal environment, and family environment, Ganiban’s team will be able to understand how genes and environment simultaneously contribute to obesity. For example, the study will examine if a healthy family environment that encourages healthy eating and exercise can override genetic or prenatal risks for being overweight or obese.
“What we really want to find out is why kids are or are not obese,” said Ganiban. “The long term goal of this project is to understand how the home environment can mitigate or boost the impact of a child’s genetic and prenatal risk for obesity.”
Implications of her findings on treatment and prevention could be significant as many of the current programs do not consider a child’s personal risk for obesity and the need to individualize prevention efforts in order to ensure long term changes in weight.
“The problem with some of the intervention studies is that they recommend that everyone exercise more or go on a particular diet, but that may not be what is needed for some kids and it may not be extreme enough for other kids,” said Ganiban. “A lot of the recommendations focus on behavioral changes, but they don’t address what created and maintained that behavior.”
What Ganiban and her team hope to identify are different pathways to obesity and the different combinations of risk factors that predict each pathway. The findings may open the way for individualized prevention and intervention approaches to address the unique vulnerabilities and needs of children.
