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K-State Today

September 9, 2016

K-State extension nutrition faculty present at national meeting

Submitted by Paula Peters

Paula Peters and Sandy Procter, faculty members in K-State Research and Extension Nutrition, presented their research on Communities Preventing Childhood Obesity at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior meeting in August in San Diego, California.

The research is the culmination of a five-year $4.5 million dollar project funded through the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The project focused on helping communities in Kansas and six other states in the region support healthy eating and physical activity to prevent childhood obesity.

Peters led this seven-state project and Procter guided the work in Kansas. Two rural southeast Kansas communities with a high population of young low-income children participated. Coalitions in both communities were given resources and funding to address the needs as they identified them. -

In addition, one of the communities was provided a community coach to help guide them through the process.  Over the course of the project, both communities became healthier environments for young children, with the coached community seeing the greatest improvements.