The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded $4.9 million to U-M to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity among Head Start preschoolers in Michigan.

The preschool years are a critical time for developing eating behaviors. Among 4-year-olds in the United States, nearly 1 in 5 is obese, and low-income children are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to be overweight than middle- or upper-income children.

“Obesity is perhaps the most pressing nutritional problem in America, with childhood and adolescent obesity rates tripling in the past 30 years,” says NIFA Director Roger Beachy.

Dr. Julie Lumeng, a behavioral pediatrician at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, will lead a research team of faculty from the School of Public Health (SPH), the Center for Human Growth and Development and Michigan State University.

With the NIFA grant, Lumeng and her team will develop an obesity intervention program based on the premise that enhancing a child’s ability to control certain emotions and behaviors is a key component of effective obesity prevention.

The ability to inhibit an impulse and calm oneself in the face of stress are two examples of self-regulatory abilities.

“These abilities may be relevant to obesity prevention because children who are better able to cope with stress may be less likely to eat impulsively or in response to stress,” says Lumeng, an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Child Behavioral Health, and assistant research scientist at the Center for Human Growth and Development.

Researchers includes nutrition and child health experts Karen E. Peterson, professor of environmental health sciences, director of the Human Nutrition Program at SPH and co-director of the Michigan Nutrition and Obesity Research Center; Alison Miller, assistant research professor at SPH and assistant research professor at the Center for Human Growth; and Holly Brophy-Herb and Mildred Horodynski of Michigan State.