Can peer mentors help teens lose weight? new strategies for combatting teen obesity

Education and mentoring targeting obesity and delivered in high schools by peers has been shown to have a significant impact on teen diet and physical activity, according to a study published in Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.(http://www.liebertpub.com) The article “Effect of HealthCorps, a High School Peer Mentoring Program, on Youth Diet and Physical Activity,” is available online. (http://www.liebertpub.com/chi)

Mehmet Oz, MD, John Cawley, PhD, and colleagues from Columbia University (New York, NY), Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), HealthCorps (Brooklyn, NY), F.E.G.S. Health and Human Services System (New York, NY), and Affinity Health Plan (Bronx, NY), evaluated the HealthCorps model, a school-based obesity prevention program, in six intervention schools and compared the results to those from five control schools. HealthCorps educates students about physical fitness and nutrition, and encourages them to lead a healthier lifestyle. The program targets minority, low-income, inner-city students who are at high risk for developing obesity.

The researchers concluded that, “peer educators hold promise for improving high school students' diets and physical activity.” In the HealthCorps model, trained recent college graduates served as peer mentors. The study showed that this model was particularly effective for reducing soda consumption, with a 13% reduction overall among the participants, a 25.7% reduction among girls in particular, and a 35.7% reduction among girls who completed the HealthCorps program. Furthermore, students who completed the program were 45% more likely to report that they were more physically active than in the previous year.

“The results achieved by HealthCorps are important, and encouraging,” says David L. Katz, MD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief of Childhood Obesity and Director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center. “They suggest that peer mentoring can be part of the solution to the serious problem of teen obesity and related ill-health by modifying behaviors. Just as importantly, however, they indicate that peer mentoring cannot be the whole solution, and thus we all have lots of work left to do to create environments — both in school and out — that foster the well-being of our teenage sons and daughters.”

hildhood Obesity (http://www.liebertpub.com/chi) is a bimonthly journal, published in print and online, and the journal of record for all aspects of communication on the broad spectrum of issues and strategies related to weight management and obesity prevention in children and adolescents. The journal includes peer-reviewed articles documenting cutting-edge research and clinical studies, opinion pieces and roundtable discussions, profiles of successful programs and interventions, and updates on task force recommendations, global initiatives, and policy platforms. It reports on news and developments in science and medicine, features programs and initiatives developed in the public and private sector, and includes a Literature Watch and Web Watch.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative medical and biomedical peer-reviewed journals, including Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, Population Health Management, Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, and Journal of Women's Health. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available on our website at http://www.liebertpub.com

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