Caretaker Research Advancing Youth Obesity kNowledge (CRAYON)

Welcome

Welcome to Dr. Juhee Kim's Caretaker Research Advancing Youth Obesity kNowledge (CRAYON) Research Group.

Research

The CRAYON group will explore the role of early risk factors for pediatric obesity in both the home and child care environment such as:

Exploration

• feeding practices
• physical activity
• media influences

Collaborative studies reflect disciplines from the UIUC campus and other US and South Korea institutions and include:

Studies include

• public health
• preventive medicine
• dental medicine
• social sciences

The CRAYON group focuses on examining health behaviors of the underserved and high-risk population and people with disabilities in the context of family and organizational environment and health policy.

The CRAYON Potent Care Provider Study:

More than half of U.S. infants are enrolled in childcare programs. Even though the majority of infants spend time in day care, there is little information on infant feeding practices in childcare and its impact on growth and development of obesity. The CRAYON research study, a subgroup of the STRONG Kids project at the University of Illinois, is a comprehensive research project to understand multiple influences on infant and toddler’s growth and development. The purpose of this study is to examine whether we could verify the observed epidemiological findings by conducting a food consumption study between infants in day care and parental care.

Courtney Refakes is a senior in Food Science. She has worked at the National Soybean Research Lab over the summer. She also worked with CRAYON over the summer as part of the Oral Health and Fluoride Varnish Program Study. She plans to go to graduate school for Nutrition.

Maria Salwan is a sophomore in Community Health with a minor in Chemistry. She hopes to be an ER physician and a health advocate. This is her second semester working on the STRONG Kids research project.

Graceann's interest includes nutrition, physical activity, and human development. Her interest in kinesiology stems from a past of athletic involvement in several different sports. In future she would like to do something in the healthcare field.

Briel Edmeier is a junior in Community Health with a focus in Health Education. She is very interested in the field of nutrition and hopes to attend graduate school after complete my degree at the University.

The WIC Study:

The obesity epidemic affects all segments of the U.S. population, including infants and toddlers. Also, increasing number of preschool children already presented dental caries and other oral health problems, especially for those in low-income family. The goal of the study is to examine the impact of early food consumption on the development of obesity and oral health among WIC children younger than 3 years old. A subsample of infants will be further examined for their detailed food consumption and day care experience. This study is built in the existing Fluoride Varnish Program for WIC (Women, Infants and Children) children in the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD). The results of this study will provide not only new evidence on the interrelationship among food consumption, oral health, and obesity, but also policy implications that ensure healthy environment among children enrolled in WIC program and day care.

Eliza Chan is a Senior in Dietetics. She loves food and is interested in looking at how nutrition affects our health. Her future career goal is to become a clinical dietician and help promote lifelong wellness in the world.

Sara Elazan is a Senior in Human Nutrition. She is very interested in how nutrition differs across various populations and how to better the health of humans everywhere. She hopes to attend graduate school and work with food policy or underrepresented populations.

Dennise Staab is a Junior in Community Health with a minor in Chemistry. She is interested in the health of infants and their development. She believes the obesity epidemic needs great attention and is glad to be working on a project that deals with it. She hopes to attend medical school when she graduates.

Rania Travis is a Senior in Community Health and minor in Chemistry. Her major concern in the health field is the health disparities in underprivileged areas. Her future goals are to become a dentist and combat issues in her community. She plans to open a dental clinic in her community providing free and quality services to all in need.

All our research efforts will address the need of developing obesity prevention and intervention targeting people at risk.

Students who are interested in joining the WIC study can contact us at: crayonwic@gmail.com.

Food Consumption and Early Childhood Caries (ECC) Study

The goal of the ECC SubStudy is to explore the risk factors and impact of early food consumption on the oral health and wellbeing of young children. The study consists of researching the various risk factors of ECC among children younger than 6 years old, creating a survey to gather detailed data on eating and oral hygiene practices, and pilot-testing the survey at the dental clinic, Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD). The results of this study will investigate the co-morbidity of ECC and eating behaviors, the influence of parental oral hygiene practices and dental care use on ECC, and address the oral health disparity.

Research Members’ Biographies

Komal Kenkare

I will receive my B.S. in Psychology and Chemistry from the University of Illinois in May 2010. I am pursuing a career in dentistry because I want to educate my patients about the significance of good oral health and the positive impact of a nominal amount of time spent in self care. My research interests focus on the prevalence and severity of early childhood caries among the WIC population.

Azhar Elhreiche

My name is Azhar Elhreiche. I am a senior majoring in Human Nutrition and minoring in Chemistry.

Mary Kim

I am a Senior majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology, aspiring to be a pediatric dentist. When my mind's not on school, I am probably thinking about food and/or design.

Jesi Trotter

My name is Jesi Trotter. I'm a junior majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Once I'm done with undergrad, I hope to go to dental school to become a dentist.

Nick Feller

Hi, my name is Nick Feller. I'm a senior at the University of Illinois majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology with minors in Business and Chemistry. I'm from Springfield, IL and have been a lifelong Illini fan. I'm hoping to go to Dental School next year, and I'm excited to be part of the ECC study team and enhance my knowledge of oral health.

Donghyun (Don) Lee

Hello! My full name is Donghyun Lee, but you can just call me Don. I am currently a junior at UIUC majoring in Molecular Cellular Biology with the ambition to become a dental specialist. During my leisure time, I enjoy the Food Channel, cooking, and promoting Hip Hop.

Jae Eun Shim

Jae Eun received her PhD in Food and Nutrition from Seoul National University in South Korea. Her main research interests are food consumption behaviors, dietary quality, and the health outcomes. Recent works are investigations of food cost effect on diet quality, breakfast eating behaviors, and risk factors of over- and under- weight in children and young women using national nutrition survey data. She participated in developing dietary assessment methodology for Korean cohorts on diet, genetics and chronic diseases and coordinated dietary survey. More recently, she did a comparative analysis of nutritional status in South and North Korean children and young women. Currently, her works focus on low income family children’s nutritional status and health outcomes.

Rose Ann Mathai

Rose Ann received her B.S. in Dietetics from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She completed recently completed her M.S. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Nutritional Sciences. Her current research interests include the role of child care providers in infant feeding practices and weight gain.

Dipti Dev

Dipti has pursued Master's Degree in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics from University of Mumbai, India and has four plus years of professional experience in the area of Nutrition and Health. Currently, Dipti is enrolled as a PhD candidate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at University of Illinois. Her research interests include Preschool childcare and obesity: Causes and Intervention; Oral Microbiota and Obesity. At present, Dipti is managing the CRAYON- Potent care study and is also a Data Management coordinator of the STRONG Kids Project.

Min Chen

Min Chen is a second-year Master student in Department of Statistics at U of I. Her main interest is to construct statistical models to help understand how different factors can affect the young kids’ health related problems such as obesity.