Battling the bulge

Jeff Brown, a phys-ed teacher in Philadelphia for 31 years who was assigned to work with Temple during the study, isn't waiting. Armed with a state grant, he began making many of the same changes at Baldi Middle School in the Northeast - not one of the study sites - when he returned to teaching last fall.

Of all the study's accomplishments, Brown said, he is most proud of this: "Our most obese students did the best."

"There was a girl," he recalled, who was extremely large, and, like many other obese children, was too intimidated or afraid to participate in regular gym class.

"I called her Hero," Brown said, "because of her commitment and willingness to participate, and because of the change in her affect and attitude: her alertness, her brightness, her happiness."

And because, by the end of the eighth grade, after learning that she could actually do gym, he said, "she was willing to engage in regular conversation, and smile.

"She wasn't before," he said. "I will never forget her."

Highlights of Schools Study

The National Institutes of Health-funded research, called "The HEALTHY Study," has four key interventions.

Nutrition intervention

Change school meal programs, snack bars, vending machines, fund-raisers, and classroom parties, to:

Lower average fat content of food served in school.

Provide at least two fruit/vegetable servings in lunch programs and one at breakfast.

Limit all desserts and snacks to 200 calories or less.

Eliminate milk greater than 1 percent fat, all drinks with added sugar, and nearly all 100 percent fruit juice.

Provide at least two servings of grain-based foods or legumes, with at least 2 grams of fiber per serving, in lunch programs, and one serving at breakfast.

Phys-ed intervention

Increase physical activity levels in gym, by:

Providing at least 225 minutes of physical education class over every two-week period.

Ensuring 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity (at least 130 heartbeats per minute) over two weeks.

Using strategies in gym class to better manage administrative time, reduce inactivity, and increase activity through motivational techniques, equipment, exercises, and games.

Behavioral intervention

Support the nutrition and phys-ed goals, through:

Classroom instruction on related topics.

Self-learning materials for students during breaks.

Newsletters to families with recipes and support tips.

Communications intervention

Promote all the above, with:

Posters (some on this page) in English and Spanish.

Public address announcements.

Creative messaging, such as a Jeopardy! game.

Study details, videos of phys-ed class and an interview with the research chair, Gary D. Foster of Temple University:

Contact staff writer Don Sapatkin at 215-854-2617 or dsapatkin@phillynews.com.