SNRAS Associate Professor Bret Luick (pictured at right) recently returned from the First Annual CHL (Children’s Healthy Living) meeting in Honolulu where planning began for a new project aimed at developing childhood obesity-prevention strategies in the Pacific region.
The work is funded by $2.9 million subaward to the UAF Cooperative Extension Service, SNRAS and the Center for Alaska Native Health Research. It is part of a five-year, $25 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to the University of Hawaii. The project team includes university scientists from Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and Micronesia.
Luick, the lead investigator of the Alaska project, said the long-term goal of the grant is to reduce childhood obesity by encouraging active lifestyles and improving dietary practices of families with young children. “We will work at the community level to promote policies changes which moderate obesogenic environments. The impact of the changes will include both documentation of the process and direct measurement of health, diet and physical activity among kindergarten to second graders and Head Start participants,” Luick said.
“This is about children achieving and maintaining healthy lifestyles,” Luick said. “We want to introduce policy changes that lead to healthier lifestyles among children 2 to 8.” Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, water, fruit and vegetables will be measured, as well as the amount of time children spend being physically active.
Researchers will partner with communities to inventory resources, identify barriers to healthy lifestyles, and design and evaluate culturally appropriate programs. Luick said the project will increase the university’s capacity to provide childhood obesity education, research and outreach to the state. The grant also will help support academic training in natural resource management, and foods and nutrition by building on existing UAF degree programs.
This is not an issue that has been ignored, Luick emphasized. The Department of Health and Social Services and many non-governmental organizations have been tackling the problem. The unique aspect to this new study is that it will not be on the national level but will have a specific regional focus. “We will partner with existing efforts, and further develop materials as needed that are tailored to Alaska communities,” Luick said. “If we do this with community buy-in the communities are more likely to be involved.”
Community level research will identify local barriers to healthy lifestyles. Dr. Luick has a particular interest in the relationship between food security and health outcomes.
Undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to contact Luick at 474-5170 for further information.
Other UAF researchers include Andrea Bersamin, an assistant professor of nutrition at CANHR and the Institute of Arctic Biology, and Joshua Greenberg, an associate professor of resource economics at the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences.
Luick joined the SNRAS faculty July 1 as an associate professor of food science and nutrition, sharing his appointment with CES as an Extension specialist. An Alaska resident since 1971, he has a doctorate in food science and technology from Oregon State University.
He has been the researcher for the UAF food cost survey for 16 years, tracking statewide costs of retail foods, and has as many years experience leading Extension nutrition education programs for low-income audiences.
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