In 2001, UC Cooperative Extension nutrition specialists with the Center for Weight and Health introduced the Children and Weight: What Communities Can Do About It project, with the goal of reducing the prevalence of pediatric overweight. This project was designed to facilitate the formation of community coalitions, and to educate and empower them to improve or create environments that foster healthy lifestyles in children and their families at the local level. The project has been implemented in 13 California counties and by groups across the country. The “Spectrum of Prevention” is featured as a way to address the problem of pediatric overweight from multiple levels, ranging from educating individuals and providers to advocating for systemic and environmental change. Shasta CAN in Shasta County, the Solano County Children and Weight Coalition and the Kern County Childhood Overweight Coalition are presented as models of how coalitions can creatively plan and implement activities across the spectrum.

Many nutritionists believe that food habits are passed on from one generation to the next, influencing dietary quality. However, we studied the food habits and dietary quality among three generations of biologically related black women and found that there was no correlation or relationship. In addition, we identified culturally acceptable food sources of nutrients most likely to be lacking in the diets of black women. The increased consumption of these foods may help reduce the high rates of chronic diseases among black women in California.