A Somerville obesity prevention program with Tufts roots last week took the national stage as Mayor of Somerville Joseph Curtatone joined First lady Michelle Obama at the White House for the launch of a national initiative to tackle childhood obesity.
The first lady on Feb. 9 held a news conference after President Barack Obama approved up to $1 billion per year over 10 years for the new initiative, Let's Move.
Let's Move, a government program proposed and promoted by the first lady, is designed to inform Americans about obesity and to help the population, especially the youth, adopt healthier lifestyles.
Both Curtatone and Christina Economos, associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, were invited to the launch because of their joint efforts and success at promoting consciousness about health and obesity in Somerville through Shape Up Somerville, a local initiative targeting youth obesity.
Curtatone delivered remarks on behalf of Shape Up Somerville at the launch, which he called a rewarding experience.
"[It was] a gratifying moment for everyone who has been involved in our project to reverse the trends of childhood obesity," he told the Daily.
Economos was unable to attend the event due to weather disruptions.
Shape Up Somerville began as a Tufts program, sponsored by a Center for Disease Control (CDC) grant, according to Jaime Corliss, director of Shape Up Somerville.
Corliss said that the program, which started out as a community task force, has become a committee comprised of community members who meet to discuss possible changes that will foster a healthier city.
She explained that efforts thus far have included intervention in schools to increase physical education and healthy eating options and teaming up with local restaurants to offer smarter menu selections. Another major aspect of Shape Up Somerville has been improving infrastructure to augment access to areas for walking and biking.
Economos led the research that laid the groundwork for the program. According to Corliss, she found that 40 percent of children in first through third grades were overweight, leading her to contact Curtatone about measures to combat this problem.
"The theory was to change the children's environment to improve their health, a real wraparound intervention," Corliss said.
This idea, configured by Economos, her research team and the city of Somerville, was unique at the time.
"It became the first community-wide intervention to reduce unnecessary weight gain in growing children," Economos said. "We focused on making changes to the environment and policies to produce that environment."
Obama's Let's Move initiative takes inspiration from Shape Up Somerville's approach to reducing the number of overweight children, according to Curtatone.
"It uses as a foundation a lot of the things we did in Somerville," he said. "It's exciting to see the first lady base her Let's Move initiative on Shape Up Somerville. We were happy to comment and assist her."
Corliss agreed that the two programs shared many similarities. "What we're doing is in line with what the first lady is doing," she said. "She talked about coalition efforts, and we're taking the same approach."
Given the similarities between the ideologies of Shape Up Somerville and Let's Move, Economos feels Obama's initiative is likely to see similar successes as the Tufts-bred project.
"I'm hopeful for the future that if these programs are replicated across the country, then we can make a real dent in this epidemic," she said.
At Tuesday's event, the primary goals of Let's Move for the coming years were outlined. The program will seek to make policy changes that will provide consumers with more food nutritional information, increase physical activity levels, increase access to healthy foods and endorse personal responsibility.
"The main goal is to raise the issue to a level of social consciousness so that we can eliminate childhood obesity," Curtatone said.
Economos is optimistic that Obama's efforts will instigate enduring reform and community health improvements.
"We've been waiting for a large-scale, government approach to this problem," she said. "If they are successful at [garnering] influence at the local level, the difference could be quite profound. Policy at the federal, state and local levels will have a really big impact on millions of children."
Curtatone is proud of what Somerville has accomplished through the program and hopes to continue efforts with Tufts and all of the community partners.
"As leaders, it is our responsibility to make decisions and develop policies that create environments that improve quality of life for all those who want to live, work, play and raise families in our communities," he said in his speech at the event. "We can overcome this epidemic. Somerville's obesity prevention program can be replicated."
