Grants for Obesity Research Announced

December 27, 2000

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has announced $2.3 million in grants for research on obesity, perinatal nutrition, and food stamp participation among the elderly. Among the issues researchers will address are the association between dietary habits during adolescence and development of obesity; the relationship between food insecurity and hunger and poor birth outcomes and how to increase food stamp participation among the elderly.

Other award recipients will examine the relationship between time and work pressures and diet quality; the relative food insecurity of immigrant households compared with other households; the extent to which parenting practices influence obesity in low-income African-American preschoolers, and the effects of housing costs on food consumption for low-income households.

All of the research projects are products of the Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP), administered by USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS). FANRP studies and evaluates the performance of, and issues related to, the Food Stamp Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Child Nutrition Programs.

A complete list of award recipients and more information can be accessed on the web at http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/foodasst/.