In 2014, NCCOR made strides in exploring new frontiers in childhood obesity. NCCOR’s recently released Annual Report 2014 explores three emerging and important childhood obesity research topics at the center of these efforts: healthy food incentives; lessons learned from global efforts; and childhood obesity declines.
Healthy Food Incentives
Eating a healthy diet is one way to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Because obesity disproportionately affects the underserved, incentivizing purchases of healthy foods by low-income populations could have a significant impact on obesity rates. In 2014, NCCOR convened leading experts for a three-part workshop series exploring healthy food incentives. The robust series examined healthy food incentives from multiple perspectives – highlighting state of the art nutrition incentive projects across the United States; exploring behavioral economic strategies to cue healthy food choices; and synthesizing the information needs, gaps, and research and evaluation activities required to move the field forward. Learn more about NCCOR’s Healthy Food Incentives projects and view presentations from the workshops at https://www.nccor.org/projects/healthy-food-incentives.
Lessons Learned from Global Efforts
More than 42 million children younger than age 5 are overweight worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. A global epidemic, high rates of childhood obesity are prompting action in a number of ways. In October 2014, NCCOR and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) convened international and interdisciplinary researchers to share lessons learned about what works to guide ongoing efforts to reduce childhood obesity prevalence in the United States and abroad. Researchers discussed innovative policies and interventions as well as opportunities for future research. A summary of the meeting as well as videos are available at https://www.nccor.org/projects/globallessons/index.
Childhood Obesity Declines
Some communities in the United States have experienced declines in childhood obesity rates, but the reasons for these reductions are not well understood. RWJF is currently supporting a project to document community-specific childhood obesity strategies and the reasons why improvements have been seen in some communities but not others. In early 2015, RWJF began site visits to examine these issues in three specific communities. To learn more about NCCOR’s Childhood Obesity Declines project, visit https://www.nccor.org/projects/obesity-declines.
The Annual Report 2014 also highlights examples of how NCCOR supports scientists in the field and synthesizes, translates, and publicizes the latest research.
To view the report visit https://www.nccor.org/downloads/NCCOR-AR2014_final.pdf.