Obesity is being tackled one family at a time with a new two year study called COMPASS. The program includes fitness and nutritional mandates which is designed to influence parents to take action against a weight problem, and set a powerful example for the child.
A team of doctors in St. Louis, Missouri are recruiting 120 families that have been affected by obesity in hopes of helping them make improvements.
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine are embarking on a two-year study called COMPASS, which stands for “Comprehensive Maintenance Program to Achieve Sustained Success.”The study will involve 120 families with at least one parent – and at least one child between ages 7 and 11 – who are more than 20 percent heavier than their ideal weight.
The COMPASS study will include fitness and nutritional mandates, plus weight management therapy. The program is designed to influence the parent to take action against a weight problem, which, in turn, sets a powerful example for the child.
This two-year study, which will be free for the families who qualify and are chosen to participate, is made possible by a $4.6 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
