Researchers receive $7 million for obesity programs

A group of Rio Grande Valley researchers has received a $7 million grant to create programs designed to curb the region's obesity and diabetes epidemic.

Researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health's Brownsville regional campus were awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, officials have announced.

The school is using these funds to establish The Center of Excellence on Diabetes in Americans of Mexican Descent, which will be devoted to developing prevention programs for diabetes and obesity in Mexican Americans, according to officials. The center is part of the existing Hispanic Health Research Center.

"I'm hoping we're going to find the means to reduce the burden of diabetes and obesity in our population, both in children and adults," said Dr. Joseph McCormick, regional dean of the Brownsville campus.

The Hispanic Health Research Center received its first NIH grant in 2003, and researchers used that grant to kick off a long-term study of 1,800 Cameron County residents, monitoring their diabetes risk, weight and overall health for several years.

In February, researchers released some shocking preliminary statistics from that study: 52 percent of Cameron County residents are obese, the investigators concluded, and another 32 percent are overweight. In addition, one in five county residents has diabetes, and an additional 23 percent have "pre-diabetes," or blood-sugar levels that are elevated but not high enough for a diabetes diagnosis.

Researchers said these findings likely apply to residents throughout the Rio Grande Valley.

McCormick said the study's results would be published later this year.

With the new boost in funding, researchers plan to expand a region-wide media campaign on preventing obesity and improving health, and measuring its effectiveness among study participants and its penetration in the community. In another program, researchers will ask parents to develop an exercise schedule for their children and limit the time kids spend watching TV or playing video games. Local schools also will be involved in this initiative, McCormick said.

The investigators then will follow up with participating children and adults, measuring their weight, blood sugar and other parameters to see if the interventions are working, McCormick said.

Researchers will be testing a variety of approaches to preventing obesity and diabetes, said Christina Barroso, assistant professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences. Barroso's work focuses specifically on parental influence in children's health.

"We're targeting children ... because it's easier to change behavior in children than in adults," Barroso said. "The idea is to get kids to be more active and eat more fruits and vegetables, and encouraging parents to help."

The goal is to find programs that will really work in changing behavior and making Valley residents healthier, researchers said.

"If a program really has an impact, that means maybe it's a tool we can use in the broader population," McCormick said.

The investigators also will study a group of people with pre-diabetes to determine what signs exist that a person is about to develop the disease.

"We want to be able to tell physicians what to look for," McCormick said.