Published: March 25, 2008 11:02 pm            

Losing weight, helping research

Elementary students benefiting diabetes study

RUSSELL — Children in several schools in Greenup County are trimming their waistlines while adding important information to diabetes research.

A Weight Watchers family program targeting third-, fourth- and fifth-graders focuses on healthy lifestyles with the goal of changing eating and exercise habits, according to program coordinator Margaret Ward.

Funded through the Bon Secours Health System and the Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital Foundation, the pilot programs bring the children and their families together once a week at Greysbranch Elementary in the Greenup County School District.

Raceland and Russell elementary schools have joined the elementaries in the Greenup district for the 10-week program.

While the children go to the gym for structured play with an exercise physiologist, parents head to the library with a diet expert.

Parents talk about portion sizes, interpreting labels, hunger signals, and other nutritional matters while their children play vigorous games. “They break a sweat and end up out of breath,” Ward said. “They have a lot of fun. They really do.”

The program provides certified child care workers for younger siblings and helps families pay gas costs.

The program is helpful to parents and children alike in developing healthy lifestyles, said Greenup school nurse Jennifer Trippett. The focus is on changing physical activity and eating patterns, she said.

Ward is collecting data she’ll use in a research study to document the role of diet and exercise in weight control and the link between excess weight and diabetes.

She started the study with a record of the body mass index — the relationship between height and weight — of each participant, and will take new measurements every three months for a year.

Ward hopes the research will help similar programs in the future and hopes she’ll receive another grant next year to repeat the program.

The research will aid in identifying children who are at risk for diabetes, Trippett said.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.

        

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