Grant Abstract: SCOOP fellowship: Supplemental Calcium in Overweight Outpatients

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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