Preventing Obesity in Military Communities-Adolescents

The prevalence of overweight among military personnel and their dependents is at a rate similar to that of the civilian population. Nearly 30% of adolescent dependents are overweight, including approximately 15-17% who are obese, placing them at high risk for impairments in metabolic functioning, type 2 diabetes, and adult obesity. Youth who are overweight (body mass index, kg/m2, BMI ≥ 85th percentile) are at high risk for excess weight gain as they grow. Since effective weight loss and maintenance treatments are rare, prevention may be the most important approach to reducing the high prevalence of obesity. To date, most pediatric obesity prevention programs have been met with limited success. To address those at greatest risk for obesity, more targeted approaches may be required. There is a need to reduce prospectively identified risk factors in order to prevent excess weight gain in youth at high risk for adult obesity. The most common disordered eating behavior among overweight adolescents is loss of control (LOC) eating, during which the feeling of being unable to stop eating is experienced. LOC eating predisposes youth to gain excessive weight and fat. Thus, LOC eating is likely to be an important contributor to obesity in susceptible individuals. Decreasing LOC in adolescents may prevent excess weight gain. Investigators at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) is in partnership with Ft. Belvoir Community Hospital (FBCH) and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) to test the effectiveness of IPT-WG to slow the trajectory of weight gain in overweight adolescent boys and girls who report LOC and prevent worsening disordered eating and metabolic functioning. The unique stress burdening the children of military personnel while the country is at war suggests that obesity prevention programs targeting interpersonal stress and promoting positive social functioning may be especially timely in this population. It is hypothesized that IPT-WG will decrease LOC eating and related eating behaviors and, in turn, prevent excess weight gain and the development of exacerbated disordered eating in adolescent children of military personnel. Secondary to the prevention of excess weight gain, youth will experience improvements in metabolic functioning.