Conducting research to promote healthy weight gain from gestation to age 2, particularly among disproportionately burdened populations

The Foundation's program, Healthy Eating Research: Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity, was designed to support investigator-initiated research to identify and assess environmental and policy influences with the greatest potential to improve healthy eating and weight patterns among the nation's children.Pregnancy and the years between birth and age 2 have increasingly been recognized as a critical period for development of childhood obesity. The overall goal of this study is to develop and refine health messaging for future interventions among families living in Washington Heights, a low-income New York City neighborhood with high prevalence of childhood obesity. The research will result in messages to promote healthy beverage intake during pregnancy and from age 0 to 2 years (including mothers' consumption during pregnancy and infants' consumption after birth) through various approaches that will be tested in future multi-sector and environmental interventions. Specific aims of this study are to: (1) quantify the associations of attitudes, purchasing behaviors, and consumption related to mother and child beverage intake during pregnancy and from birth to age 2 among families enrolled in New York Presbyterian Hospital's Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (NYPH-WIC), and (2) examine the acceptability of health messages targeting healthy beverage intake during the same time period. This study will use cross-sectional surveys of families during the same time period in NYPH-WIC and in-depth interviews of pregnant women and caretakers of children age 0-2 years enrolled in WIC; WIC providers; and health care providers (obstetrics and pediatrics). Deliverables will include manuscript(s) to be published in peer-reviewed journals and research meetings and local stakeholder presentations.