Tanja Kral
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Children who carry genes linked to obesity do not always become obese. That gap suggests that everyday behaviors may modify inherited risk.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Psychology
- Topics
childhood obesity
pediatric obesity
energy balance
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2027
What they work on
- Test whether a heightened drive to eat (food reward value, rapid eating and eating without hunger) predicts 1-year changes in weight and body fat in children ages 5 to 7 independently of a genetic risk score or in addition to it.
- Identify diet, physical activity and sleep behaviors that may lessen the impact of a high drive to eat or high genetic risk on BMI z-score, percent body fat and waist circumference over one year.
- Test whether the protective energy balance behaviors differ for children with a heightened drive to eat compared with children at high genetic risk for obesity.
- Examine how family functioning and parent feeding practices shape children's risk-modifying energy balance behaviors in families from low-resource backgrounds.
More about the research
This study asks whether energy balance behaviors, habits of diet, physical activity and sleep, can weaken behavioral and genetic predispositions to obesity in young children. It also asks how families shape those behaviors.
Why it matters
Childhood obesity places a heavy burden on children from low-resource, predominantly minority families. Identifying the diet, activity, sleep and family factors that protect children with a strong drive to eat or high genetic risk could provide new targets for tailored, family-based prevention programs. It could also help reduce health disparities in obesity.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Kerri Boutelle
University of California-San Diego, CA·Psychology
Compare Regulation of Cues (ROC), Family-Based Treatment, ROC plus calorie restriction and health education in a randomized trial. Measure changes in weight and overeating over 18 months in 280 children high in food cue responsiveness, the pull to eat in response to food cues.
Emily Melnick
University of Denver, CO·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Test whether limited neighborhood food access at age 2 predicts less responsive parental feeding practices and less nutritious foods served at ages 3–5, using geocoded data from the ECHO and Care cohorts.
Matthew Haemer
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus, CO·Public Health & Epidemiology
Compare BMI reduction between the family-inclusive Healthy Living Program and a recommended primary care counseling control in low-income Hispanic children with obesity across three age groups, 2-6, 7-12 and 13-16 years, in a randomized controlled trial.
The school
University of Pennsylvania: 90 labs on PI Pages, $2.2B a year on research, 750 research doctorates a year.
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