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<P>The long-term goal of the proposed project is to reduce childhood overweight and obesity in limited resource populations in selected Black Belt Counties over the next five years by increasing nutrition knowledge and modifying dietary behaviors. Specific objectives: To implement a culturally-specific nutrition education program in selected Alabama Black Belt Counties that will increase the likelihood of adolescents (8 to 15 years) making healthy food and physical activity choices consistent with weight reduction and maintenance To document taste preferences for collard greens (Brassica oleracea) and other green vegetables, fat and sweet foods in African American children (8-15 years) from selected Alabama Black Belt counties, and determine whether there is an association between these preferences and weight status. a) To determine the effectiveness of dietary bioactive compounds from collard and other green vegetables and its extract, and examine their relationship to weight reduction and hypertension; and b) to utilize the results in developing educational tools for limited resource audiences a) To examine the feasibility of increasing access to healthful foods in convenience stores in selected Alabama Black Belt counties by engaging stakeholders (storeowners and consumers) in a formative evaluation; and b) Use the findings to implement a pilot project partnering with selected convenient stores (CS) to ensure healthy foods are more available and affordable, while also increasing the sales revenue for the stores. 5. To incorporate the bioactive compounds ofcollard and other green vegetables and purple hull peas (Vigna unguiculata L.) in the development of a value-added product </P>
<P>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Disparities exist in the distribution of overweight and obesity in the United States, with higher rates being reported from groups with low education and income levels, racial and ethnic minorities, rural and high poverty areas. A careful review of the literature clearly showed that there are concerns with health disparities (overweight, obesity, and other chronic diseases) in the south and specifically in the Black Belt counties in the State of Alabama. Tuskegee University, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, George Washington Carver Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension's mission is to provide practical solutions to childhood obesity, nutrition and health-related issues. The long-term goal of the proposed project is to reduce childhood overweight and obesity in limited resource populations in selected Black Belt Counties over the next five years by increasing nutrition knowledge and modifying dietary behaviors. Specifically, this project provides multi-level strategies and combined efforts among researchers, extension agents and community stakeholders in its implementation to facilitate change. This integrative approach is expected to provide solutions to the nutrition, diet and lifestyles disparities that affect this at risk population. The project will modulate a higher preference and intake of traditional vegetables, which may help to reduce energy intake and the risk for obesity. It will also provide further evidence of the effectiveness of bioactive compounds in collard greens and their relationship with overweight, obesity and hypertension. Additionally, the project will increase access to healthful foods in convenience stores at affordable cost. Locally grown collard greens and purple hull peas will also be utilized in the development of a value-added product (a healthy meat alternative). The production of value-added healthy alternative will serve to improve diet variety. Through this integration the proposed project will serve to develop technical and functional competence for undergraduate and graduate students in FNS, consistent with NIFA's challenge and priority areas. </P>
<P>APPROACH: Obj. 1 A pre- and post-assessment control group design consisting of (N = 200) 8 to 15 year-old children from after school care programs and community based organizations (CBOs) will be utilized. Participants in the treatment group will participate in pre-assessment activities including anthropometric (height, weight, BMI, and waist circumference) measurements, nutrition knowledge, food frequency questionnaires (FFQ), physical fitness assessment (Children's Leisure Activity Study Survey), 17 weekly nutrition and physical activity education sessions and post-assessment. Children in the control group will participate in all the activities except the nutrition and physical activity education sessions. The lessons will be age and culturally-appropriate for healthy eating options and the importance of the combination of a healthy diet and physical activity. Creative approaches will be used to reinforce the nutrition and physical activity concepts. Obj.2 To assess preference for sweet and fat foods, participants will be engaged in taste tasks and self-stated preferences. Taste tasks will include: i) hedonic testing; and ii) paired preference testing. Participants will rate the foods for sweetness, creaminess, and pleasantness using a 9-point hedonic scale. In the paired preference testing, model foods (e.g. apple juice and crackers) will be used as stimuli. A pair of food samples(reference/modified) will be placed in circles on the end of a small board and participants will taste both samples and indicate which taste better. In the self-stated preference testing, participants will be asked to list their favorite foods, which will subsequently be grouped into green leafy vegetables, high-fat, high-sugar, high carbohydrate and high protein categories. Participants will indicate their preferences for these foods using the 9-point hedonic scale. Anthropometric data collected from all participants in Obj. 1 will be utilized to make associations between hedonic influences and anthropometrics for the different food categories. Obj. 3(a) Male rats (Spontaneous Hypertensive(N=40) and Normal(N =10) will be used in the 8-week feeding experiments. Rats will be randomly assigned to 5 groups -10 rats per group and will be fed aStandard AIN 76 diet, simulated Traditional African American Diet with 4% collard greens or , 4% CGs extract mixture. CGs will be collected from farmers in the Alabama Black Belt (ALBB), freeze dried, and ground to a powder. The diets will be formulated based on the AIN-76 guidelines to be isonitrogenous and isocaloric. Rats will be pair-fed to ensure all animals (control and test) receive the same amount of energy and nitrogen. Food intake data will be recorded daily, weight and blood pressures will be measured weekly. Post treatment, animals will be anesthetizedwith CO2 inhalation after 24 hr. of fasting. Blood will becollected by cardiac puncture and stored in heparinized tubes. Organs will be removed weighed and frozen at -20 ºC until analyzed. Biomarkers to be determined include: plasma glucose, Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC), inflammatory biomarkers-hsCRP, interleukin-6, adiponectin, plasma lipids, and fecal bile acids. Obj. 3(b). The findings from Obj. 3a, will be utilized to develop appropriate age and culturally-specific educational tools for use in the ALBB. Such tools will include, but not limited to apps development, brochures and web page displays. Foci of the educational tools include identification of bioactive compounds contributing to weight, obesity and hypertension reduction, various recipesfor collard and other greens, for e.g., soup, slaw, juice, steamed vegetable mix, muffins, stir fry, rice casserole, quiche, turnovers, and others to increase consumption. Additional information will include growing collard greens, best production times, and other key information. A follow-up action by the research team with biweekly demonstration will be ongoing to reinforce information and foster action in the usage of these health promoting vegetables commonly grown on a seasonal basis. Obj. 4 Eligible participants (N = 8), two convience stores (CS) from each of the four EFNEP counties will be current CS owner or manager, and willing to participate in a 60-minute qualitative interview. Interview guide questions will be modified from those published in the literature and the New Orleans corner store survey (Custer, 2012). The guide will include questions about store products and inventory, availability of healthful food items, food prices, customer type and preferences, perception of the store as part of the community and food store owners/managers' interest in working to increase access to healthful options in the store. The intercept survey, a one-on-one, impromptu survey will be done on location in the CS. Trained interviewers will "intercept" customers (N = 200) inviting them to participate in the study and asking questions from an interview guide. The responses will be electronically populated into a database. The interview guide will include questions about frequency of shopping at CS, means of getting to the store, reasons for shopping at the store, shopping pattern, likelihood of purchasing fruits, vegetables and other healthful options at CS. The finding will be used to pilot an intervention to promote healthy CS. OneCS from each county will be selected to participate in a pilot project to support healthy eating in the counties. The Investigators will partner with the Black Belt Farm Fruit and Vegetable Market and Innovation Center (BBFVIC) and the CS owners/managers to increase the supply of healthful options and promote their purchase. Investigators will introduce four healthy food options at each store in the pilot phase. Identification of the healthy options, two vegetables and two fruits will be based on the findings and the vegetables available from the BBFVIC. Attention will be paid to supplying the products to the store owners, product placement, healthy food labels, educational brochures, recipe cards (developed in the project), and internal and external signage for the CS. Obj. 5 Product Design and Testing Purple hull peas, collard and other greens will be obtained from the farmers in the Black Belt counties, other ingredients soy protein isolate, egg white, spices and flavoring etc. from distributor of food ingredients within the US will be usedin the formulation. Beef flavoring will be added so that the product will exhibit a beef-like aroma The formulated product will be subjected to retail display/refrigerated temperature (4oC); frozen temperature (0oC); and vacuum packaged/ultra-freeze temperature at -32oC. Cooked and uncooked (refrigerated and frozen) products will be objectively and subjectively analyzed on days 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28; and vacuum-packaged products on 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 months after storage.The product will be placed in styrofoam trays and overwrapped in polyvinyl chloride film (oxygen transmission rate = 6,500 ml/m2/24 hr at 0% relative humidity). Oxidation stability test, fatty acid determination, amino acid profile, mineral Analysis., proximate (moisture, fat, ash, and protein ), cooking loss, testure profile analysis Microbial Analysis: Total aerobic count, coliforms, yeast and molds and gas analysis Sensory Evaluation A descriptive analysis will used to evaluate the flavor of the formulated product. T Modification of the product will be done based on the results from the descriptive panel. Sensory analysis will be conducted using a potential consumer sensory panel according to the testing procedures of AMSA (1978, IFT 1985). Samples will be evaluated for odor, flavor, texture, and acceptability to determine their overall quality using a 9-point hedonic scale where a score of 9 represents excellent and a score of 5 or below indicates unacceptable quality. Statistical Analysis will include ANOVA, gain scores, reliability, descriptive statistics, chi-squre, GLM. </P>