UTSA, Mexican researchers collaborate to combat childhood obesity

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(Aug. 26, 2015) -- Childhood obesity affects millions of children around the world. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 18 percent of American children between the ages of six and 11 were considered obese in 2012. In Mexico, 28 percent of boys and 29 percent of girls between the ages of five and 17 were either obese or overweight that same year, based on statistics by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.

To combat this global epidemic, Meizi He and Erica Sosa from the UTSA College of Education and Human Development’s (COEHD) Department of Kinesiology, Health, and Nutrition, have partnered with Yolanda Flores-Peña, professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León’s College of Nursing in northeastern Mexico, and her colleagues Velia Cárdenas-Villarreal, Hermelinda Ávila-Alpirez, Perla Trejo-Ortiz, and María Ruvalcaba-Rodríguez to find ways to lower these numbers.

Over the past year, this collaborative team has been developing a pilot program, “Healthy change,” that aims to educate parents, specifically Hispanic mothers, about childhood obesity. The program will focus on teaching parents how to recognize obesity in their children and take steps to prevent it.

"We hope to change mothers' mindset about body weight, obesity, and how to raise healthy children," said He. "Obesity is a national problem here and in Mexico."

The pilot program, which will launch in early 2016, will include two research sites, one in San Antonio and one in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. The findings from this pilot study will be used to help develop a large-scale childhood obesity prevention program for the Hispanic populations in both countries.

"In our department, we have a hope to address health issues that impact South Texas, like obesity,” said Sosa. “With this collaboration, we hope to expand our outreach further than we have already done in the past."

Over time, Flores-Peña said, the study will expand to other states in northern Mexico, including Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.

"I think the collaboration with UTSA is very important because it is both international and multidisciplinary,” said Flores-Peña, principal investigator for the study and current UTSA visiting professor. “It opens up opportunities in the future for other Mexican researchers to come to San Antonio to improve their knowledge and share ideas."

This international collaborative work, “Healthy Change,” has been funded by competitive agencies, including Mexico's Institute of Nutrition and Health Kellogg’s (INSK) and Mexico's National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT). (Learn more about UTSA's strong collaboration with CONACYT.)

"The beauty of this international collaboration with an interdisciplinary team is that our work will benefit both countries, the United States and Mexico,” said He. “It’s important for an international knowledge exchange. We want to put UTSA and our research on the global map."

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