LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Brings Science-Backed Childhood Obesity Prevention Into 32 Louisiana Schools, Preschools

Greaux Healthy is a comprehensive, new program supported by the State of Louisiana that translates 35 years of Pennington Biomedical research into practical tools to prevent and treat childhood obesity.

Designed to reach children in the environments they know best—both at home and at school—Greaux Healthy delivers a broad range of resources to parents, teachers, physicians, and others. So far, 21 elementary schools and 11 early childhood education centers across the state have chosen to implement the program.

Louisiana ranks third in the nation for childhood obesity. As a result, the youngest generation of Louisianans is the first—ever—to have a lower life expectancy than their parents.

But now, research is leading to action. A 2016 research study that showed how Louisiana preschoolers prefer to eat vegetables they’ve seen other kids eat—even on video—has become a program where schools serve a wider variety of vegetables from their own gardens. Another Pennington Biomedical study from 2023 showed how painted playgrounds can increase movement and improve motor skills, and this has since become an inexpensive environmental intervention in preschools. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of similar examples.

“Greaux Healthy is focused on the nutrition as well as the active part, which is what I like,” said Anderson Briggs, a physical education teacher at Glen Oaks Park Elementary in East Baton Rouge Parish who wanted to be among the first to implement the new program based on the needs he saw in his own school and community. “Now, we do relay races where the kids run 30 yards into the field to get one item from each of the five food groups and bring it back to create a balanced plate. It’s a cognitive and physical challenge, and that’s the activity that sold me on Greaux Healthy—just seeing how easy it would be to implement in our school.”

Along their walls and halls, Briggs and his students point to Greaux Healthy posters that support the new lesson plans. One reminds everyone to stand up and move around after sitting for 30 minutes. Another is a big bingo card with things kids can do or consume, like stretching and eating broccoli.

“You do every item to get bingo, and the kids want to do it,” Briggs said. “That’s why I’d like to see our involvement with Greaux Healthy grow even bigger, and I’d personally like to be the district spokesperson, and speak to other school districts to encourage them to try this program based on the results we’ve seen, even in the short amount of time we’ve had Greaux Healthy.”

The families who send their kids to Glen Oaks Park are primarily low-income and 97% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

“But a lot of our students weren’t taking advantage of that,” Briggs said. “I don’t think they understood the importance of getting a balanced meal, but now they do. Now, my kids can identify protein. A lot of my kids watch wrestling and football, so I ask them: ‘How can you become this type of athlete?’ ‘How do football players become strong?’ And they say: ‘They eat a lot of protein,’ ‘They eat their vegetables.’ They’re making the connection of how eating healthy can lead to a type of lifestyle and career. They’re making the connection of how they can get there themselves.”

Glen Oaks Park Principal Bernard Williams agreed.

“Before, food was food,” he said. “But now the kids understand more about the nutrition they need, the need to have balance. The kids have an opportunity to eat from our garden and it’s fresh, just picked that morning, and we have kids growing and enjoying okra, lettuce, kale, collard greens, watermelons, bell peppers—just all the different kinds of vegetables. For us, that’s been a great connection to the Greaux Healthy program.”

On the opposite side of the state, at Midway Elementary in Caddo Parish, lead content teacher Twandolyn Alexander is seeing students’ approach to food and exercise start to shift six months into the program.

“I was just standing in the cafeteria today, overhearing some fourth-graders. They were looking at one of the Greaux Healthy posters we’ve put up that has pictures of fruits, and saying, ‘I like that fruit,’ ‘I don’t like that fruit,’ and ‘I didn’t know that was a fruit.’ They were having a conversation about fruits, and not something they saw on TikTok.”

Twandolyn Alexander, lead content teacher at Midway Elementary in Caddo Parish

Alexander sees lessons learned at school reaching students’ families at home, too. Greaux Healthy provides Home Connections, monthly newsletters for parents, showing them what their child is learning at school and encouraging continued learning at home.

“I see our students helping their families along the way,” she said. “Doing activities at home and getting exercise even if they’re not able to go to the gym or go outside and don’t have equipment. They can still exercise and be safe and understand the importance of not just PE, but exercise as part of life.”

Carmonesia Hill, physical education teacher at Progress Elementary School in Scotlandville, north of Baton Rouge, said Greaux Healthy is adding to her school’s efforts to get students to eat better and move more.

“I've seen overweight children. I’ve seen kids with heart problems. We have kids that are severely diabetic,” Hill said. “The Greaux Healthy program enhances what we’re trying to do to get the kids more healthy and more aware of their health.”

“Everything we recommend, there is science and evidence behind it. Greaux Healthy is about identifying as much opportunity as we can in our research and giving it all back to our state and communities. It’s about translating what works to the people who need it most.”

Melissa Martin, registered dietitian and director of Greaux Healthy

So far, Pennington Biomedical’s Greaux Healthy program for early childhood education has been implemented at 10 centers in East Baton Rouge (Country Day with three locations: North Boulevard, Congress Boulevard, and Silverside; Robyn’s Nest; Southside Child Development Center; Baton Rouge Christian Academy; Second Baptist Christian Academy; YWCA Early Learning Center Capitol Elementary; New Horizon Head Start; and Young Scholars Academy) and one in Tangipahoa Parish (Noah’s Ark).

The program for elementary and middle schools has been implemented in 15 schools in East Baton Rouge (Baker Heights, Baton Rouge Ochsner Discovery, Brownfields, Cedarcrest-Southmoor, Claiborne, Glen Oaks Park, Highland, La Belle Aire, Merrydale, Northeast, Prescott, Progress, Sharon Hills, Southern University Lab School, and Zachary), four in Caddo Parish (Creswell, Judson Magnet, Midway, Westwood), one in Lafayette Parish (Willow Charter Academy), and one in Rapides Parish (Poland Jr. High).

Additional programs for new parents, families, communities, healthcare providers, and teens are in development. Pennington Biomedical and Greaux Healthy also recently announced a new, downloadable Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment Toolkit for medical professionals. Learn more about Greaux Healthy’s tools, resources, and programming for Louisiana children and everyone who cares for them at greauxhealthy.org.

LSU’s Pennington Biomedical, which opened its doors in 1988, was built to be the biggest and best nutritional research facility in the nation. It has brought over $100 million in federal research grants to Louisiana from the U.S. Department of Defense, is home to the internationally renowned Metamor Institute for advanced treatment of obesity and diabetes, and helped develop the DASH diet, which remains one of the highest recommended diets for heart health in the world. In addition, Amanda Staiano, director of the pediatric obesity and health behavior lab at Pennington Biomedical, co-authored the American Academy of Pediatrics’ first comprehensive guidelines in 15 years for how to evaluate and treat children and teenagers with obesity in 2023—the same year her colleague Leanne Redman won the TOPS Research Achievement award, the most prestigious award for obesity research in North America.

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