{"id":423,"date":"2015-08-11T10:45:11","date_gmt":"2015-08-11T17:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/new-usc-research-center-to-untangle-causes-of-childhood-obesity-in-low-income-populations\/"},"modified":"2023-11-26T08:16:35","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T16:16:35","slug":"new-usc-research-center-to-untangle-causes-of-childhood-obesity-in-low-income-populations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/new-usc-research-center-to-untangle-causes-of-childhood-obesity-in-low-income-populations\/","title":{"rendered":"New USC research center to untangle causes of childhood obesity in low-income populations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Press Release<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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New USC research center to untangle causes of childhood obesity in low-income populations<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n \n August 11, 2015<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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USC has been awarded a federally funded research center to explore why childhood obesity affects some populations more than others.
\nThe Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) Center will study pregnant women and their infants over time in low-income, urban minority communities in Los Angeles that have both high obesity rates and wide-ranging exposure to environmental pollutants.
\nResearchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC\u2019s Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center, Center for Obesity Research Center, and Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute will collaborate on the initiative.
\n\u201cOne of the most striking concerns about the obesity epidemic is the ethnic disparity among women and children,\u201d said Carrie Breton, assistant professor at Keck Medicine of USC and co-principal investigator of the center, which will try to determine how environmental factors influence childhood obesity. \u201cRates of childhood obesity, pregnancy-related obesity and their associated health consequences are disproportionately high in Hispanic women and children.\u201d
\nFor example, in Boyle Heights \u2014 home to one of the largest Hispanic\/Mexican populations in the United States \u2014 50 percent of teens are overweight or obese, compared to 34 percent in Los Angeles County and 29 percent statewide. Located at the confluence of Interstates 5 and 10, the 101 Freeway and State Route 60, Boyle Heights also faces some of the worst pollution in the county and has a disproportionately high poverty rate (33 percent).
\n\u201cChildhood obesity is one of the critical issues of our time, threatening the health of an entire generation of children,\u201d said Frank Gilliland, professor at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and co-principal investigator. \u201cOver-nutrition and sedentary lifestyle clearly play roles, but environmental determinants of obesity are also likely to be important and modifiable causes.\u201d
\nThe MADRES Center will recruit 750 mother-infant pairs from low-income urban hospitals in Los Angeles over the course of three years to investigate the problem from two angles:<\/p>\n