INTEGRATED CHILDHOOD ACTIVITY AND NUTRITION (ICAN) STUDY

During the summer period it is estimated that children, especially those from impoverished settings, could lose up to 30% of learning gained during the school year. Additionally, the loss in learning accompanied by increased risk for obesity. Children's dietary intake, particularly of nutrient-dense dark green leafy vegetables, has persistently fallen below dietary recommendations. Similarly, there has been a decline in children's aerobic fitness since the 1970s. Despite consistent and widespread efforts, there has been limited progress in improving children's dietary habits, habitual physical activity engagement, and reducing child obesity. One reason for this perpetual challenge is that educational and intervention efforts typically occur during the school year. However, it is the summer, not the school year, when accelerated increases in body fat and decline in diet quality and physical activity tend to occur. Student summer learning loss, a phenomenon commonly referred to as the summer slide, is the loss of academic knowledge and/or skills during the summer. Students' achievement scores decline over the summer by one month's worth of school-year learning instruction. Additionally, these effects are more pronounced black and Latino students who not only tend to gain less over the school year but exhibit greater learning loss in the summer, compared to white students. This is at least in part because during summer, fewer opportunities exist for children from low-income households to access healthy structured programs. Therefore, efficacious nutrition and physical activity-based programs are critically needed, especially during summer, a period of vulnerability among children affected by poverty.

This work will conduct an 8-week physical activity and nutrition randomized controlled trial among children during the summer period. The specific aims are outlined below.

Specific Aim 1: To investigate the effects of combining an 8-week lutein intervention (6mg lutein/day) with a social emotional learning (SEL)-framed physical activity summer intervention (ICAN) on improving academic achievement and cognition among school children (6-11-year-olds) affected by poverty.

Specific Aim 2: To investigate the effects of the ICAN program on improvement in carotenoid status and implications for academics and cognition in 6-11-year-olds from impoverished settings.

Specific Aim 3: To investigate ICAN intervention effects on weight status and adiposity.