$4 million grant received to study links between maternal stress and childhood obesity

By Sara Reeve

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has awarded a five-year, $4 million grant to a USC research team to discover whether stress in the lives of working mothers influences risk of childhood obesity in their children.

The project, “Maternal Stress and Children’s Obesity Risk,” led by Genevieve Dunton, PhD, MPH, will monitor stress levels in mothers through a smartphone app, as well as through salivary cortisol. … Read More »

November 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

Keck Medicine of USC researchers to study air pollution/obesity connection

By Leslie Ridgeway

Could air pollution make you fat? Keck Medicine of USC researchers received funding to investigate the hypothesis that children who live near busy roadways may be exposed to air pollution that causes inflammation, leading to obesity and other health problems.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have granted $7.8 million to Keck Medicine’s Southern California Children’s Environmental Health Center (SC-CEHC) over the next five years. Three teams of scientists will mine data from previous research and conduct new studies on near-roadway air pollution’s role in the development of obesity and metabolic abnormalities that may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. … Read More »

November 5th, 2013|Announcements|