Planet Health: The Prevention of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity

Through School-Based Intervention Steven Gortmaker, Ph.D.

Harvard School of Public Health /Harvard Prevention Research Center Supported by National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (HD-30780) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Prevention

Research Centers Grant U48/CCU115807)

Overview

• Planet Health: A school-based interdisciplinary curriculum– Curriculum design– Effectiveness – Teachers and students like it!

• Some implications for innovation and evaluation

Planet Health

• Steven Gortmaker, PhD PI

• Karen Peterson, RD, ScD Co-PI

• Jean Wiecha, PhD Project Director

• Nan Laird, PhD Co-Investigator

Carter J, Wiecha J, Peterson KE, Gortmaker SL. Planet Health. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics Press, 2001.

Goals in Creating Planet Health

• Create an interdisciplinary curriculum for middle schools that

– Uses existing teachers

– Reduces obesity risk by improving nutrition, reducing TV time and increasing physical activity

– Is liked by teachers and students

• Strategy: Reducing risk based on science

Planet Health Promotes...

Active Learning

Curriculum Frameworks

Literacy Across the

Curriculum

Behavioral Targets

• Reduce TV viewing to less than two hours per day

• Decrease consumption of high fat/saturated fat foods

• Increase moderate and vigorous activity

• Increase consumption of fruits and vegetables to five-a-day or more

Intervention Components

• Teacher training workshops

• Classroom lessons (16/year) in Math, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies

• Two-week TV reduction campaign

• Physical Education Micro-units (30 five minute units) and Fit-checks

• Wellness sessions for teachers (3)

Planet HealthIntervention/Evaluation

• 6th-8th grade students in 10 ethnically diverse public schools, 4 communities outside Boston MA

• Schools randomly assigned; 5 Intervention, 5 control

• Primary endpoint: obesity

Process Results: Planet Health

• Classroom teachers completed on average 3.4 (out of 4) lessons

• PE teachers completed on average 8.2 micro-units

• Teachers liked the curriculum!

• Increases in student knowledge (I vs C) P=0.02

Effects of Planet Health

• Obesity among females in intervention schools was reduced compared to controls (OR 0.48; P=0.03)

• Reductions in TV; both boys & girls• Among girls, each hour of TV => reduced obesity (OR

0.86/hour; P=0.02)• Increases in fruit and vegetable intake and less increment in

total energy intake among girls (P=0.003 and P=0.05)

• Gortmaker SL, Peterson K, Wiecha J, Sobol AM, Dixit S, Fox MK, Laird N. Reducing obesity via a school-based interdisciplinary intervention among youth: Planet Health. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 1999;153:409-18.

Intervention Impact by School

• Females: evidence for intervention impact in 4 of 5 schools. If the one ineffective site is dropped, intervention effect on obesity is: OR 0.31; P=0.0002

• Males: if the same school is dropped, intervention effect on obesity is OR 0.70; P=0.05

Change in Obesity by Ethnic Group

• Females: evidence for intervention impact by ethnic group – Afro-American (OR 0.14; 95% CI 0.04-0.51) – White (OR 0.48; 95% CI 0.20-1.13)– Hispanic (OR 0.38; 95% CI 0.03-5.3)

Safety: Females

- Evidence for lower incidence of disordered eating behaviors among girls in intervention schools

- Among nondieting girls, onset of these behaviors was 11 times more likely in control versus intervention schools (odds ratio: 10.9; 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 112)

Austin SB, Field AE, Gortmaker SL, 1992. Abstract; Academy for Eating Disorders

Conclusions: Planet Health

• Increased student knowledge of healthy diet

• Reduced TV viewing

• Among girls, reduced obesity, improved diet

• Intervention effect on obesity mediated by TV viewing

• Well liked by teachers, well implemented

Diffusion of Planet Health

• About 2000 copies of Planet Health distributed

• In 48 states in the US

• In more than 20 foreign countries

Television Viewing and Energy Balance: The Science

• How can television viewing cause obesity?

• Evidence in support of hypothesis

Hypothesized Impact of Television Viewing on Obesity

ObesityTelevisionViewing

DietaryIntake

Inactivity

Evidence for the Impact of Television Viewing on Obesity

Population-Based Epidemiological Data

13 studies in United States

9 studies in other countries

Evidence for the Impact of Television Viewing on Obesity

4 Randomized Controlled Trials

1) Epstein et al. Health Psychol 1995.

2) Robinson. JAMA.1999.

3) Gortmaker et al. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1999.

4) Epstein et al. Arch Pediat Adolesc Med 2000.

More Information?

• Visit our Website: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/prc/planet.html

• Free Planet Health lessons, teacher training slides

Implications for the obesity epidemic?

Moving from Innovation to Sustained Change in the Population?

• The innovation must fit into the daily lives of individuals/institutions

• Evaluation is needed to establish science-base for effectiveness

• A distribution system is needed for effective innovations

A Caveat: Helping students and families reduce

obesity risk does not remove powerful environmental forces that

create energy imbalance

The Important Forces: • Food producers and the "Fast Food"

industry - if they’re successful, we all eat more

• Advertisers for food and video/film industries - if they’re successful, we all buy more

• Television and video/film production and distribution industry - if they’re successful we all watch more