Louisiana has the fourth-highest rate for childhood obesity, but the LSU Agricultural Center is trying to change that.
The AgCenter is collaborating with the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and programs like 4-H and Smart Bodies to bring information about key concepts of nutrition and exercise to young students.
The research Pennington finds in nutrition, genetic differences, the relation between chronic diseases and weight and other information is brought to the public by the AgCenter, which helps Pennington gain more visibility throughout the state, said William Richardson, chancellor of the University AgCenter.
“It complements the type of sciences we’re doing here,” Richardson said.
Richardson said he wanted to be a role model for the children he was speaking to, so he took the AgCenter’s online advice and lost weight. His cholesterol soon dropped, and he gained muscle.
“We have to get it as personal as we can,” he said.
Richardson said the current population generally eats more than those in previous years because of rising incomes, especially in developed countries.
“As the standards of living rise, so do our waistlines,” Richardson said.
He said the key for people to become healthy is to burn more calories than they consume, as well as read the labels, measure caloric intake and exercise moderation.
Smart Bodies, a program collaborating with Blue Cross Blue Shield and the AgCenter’s 4-H department brings this and other information to elementary school students.
The program reaches kindergarten through fifth-grade students, said Denise Holston-West, Smart Bodies program director.
She said 109 public elementary schools in the state are participating, and they each receive $1,600 in materials.
Smart Bodies organizes several programs in the schools, including the Louisiana Body Walk Exhibit — an interactive exhibit that is brought to the schools, Holston-West said.
The exhibit allows students to walk through a model of the human body and learn about how exercise and nutrition affect it, as well as the interaction between muscles and bones, she said.
Holston-West said another program that Smart Bodies puts on for school is Wisercise, in which students perform short bouts of physical activity that are incorporated into lessons, such as doing multiplication while “invisible jump