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Grant Number: Z01OS000641 PI Name: Yanovski Project Title: SCOOP fellowship: Supplemental Calcium in Overweight Outpatients
Abstract: The prevalence of overweight in children, adolescents, and adults has doubled during the past 20 years. The alarming rise in body weight in both children and adults has likely occurred because the current environment affords easy access to calorie-dense foods and requires less voluntary energy expenditure. However, this environment leads to obesity only in those individuals whose body weight regulatory systems are not able to control body adiposity with sufficient precision in our high calorie/low activity environment, which suggests there are subgroups in the US with a uniquely high susceptibility to weight gain under the prevailing environmental conditions. Indeed, certain ethnic and racial subgroups do appear to have more difficulty matching caloric intake and energy output in this environment, predisposing them to a greater incidence of overweight and obesity. One such group are African Americans. During adolescence, African American boys and girls experience a steady rise in BMI such that 18.5% of African American girls (vs. 8.2% of Caucasian girls), and 10.2% of African American boys (vs. 5.7% of Caucasian boys) have a BMI > 95th percentile. These differences in prevalence are not fully accounted for by socioeconomic or cultural factors. The greater adiposity of African American children and adolescents confers risks for obesity?s co-morbid conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. These obesity-related comorbid conditions contribute to the greater mortality found in some minority groups in the US. However, data also suggest that the predictive risk factors related to body composition and the therapeutic approaches for these comorbid conditions that are derived from the study of Caucasians may be less applicable to those of differing ethnicity or race. Effective prevention and treatment of these obesity-related disorders requires a better understanding of the key elements for body weight regulation. Specific Project Title - The SCOOP Study: Supplemental Calcium in Overweight Out-Patients. This protocol is designed to study the role of dietary supplements in the metabolic regulation of body weight. It now serves as a vehicle for the education and training of post-doctoral fellows.
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