Multidisciplinary research team tackles obesity questions 

Are there economic behaviors prompting Adam Smith’s invisible hand to reach for Cheetos instead of carrots in American homes?

Researchers in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) have melded economics with fitness to collect data to answer whether healthy foods are being passed over for unhealthy foods.

How a family’s resources are allocated and how that may lead to increasing incidences of obesity in some households and not others is being studied, says Mariah Ehmke, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, and who is heading the research.

Smith, considered the father of modern economics, used the invisible hand metaphor to explain how competition guides markets.

Experiments in the multidisciplinary research involve game playing in the experimental economics laboratory in the College of Agriculture, through surveys taken by Kari Morgan, and fitness tests at the Half Acre Gymnasium track by Enette Larson-Meyer, both assistant professors in FCS. Assisting are Lindsey Simpson, a part-time employee and project manager, doctoral student Travis Warziniack, who is running the economic experiments, and Heidi Henderson, an undergraduate research assistant in family studies who is helping with economic experiments involving the child.

Only mothers and one of their children up to 10 years old are involved in the studies, says Ehmke. “In general, mothers are more involved in what their children are going to eat,” she says, “and children 8 to 10 are old enough to understand economic game playing, but they’re not yet in puberty, which could complicate the Body Mass Index (BMI) measure.

Morgan worked with Ehmke and Larson-Meyer to develop a set of questions for mothers to answer. “The questions focus on a range of variables that will help us better understand family dynamics,” says Morgan.

The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete, says Morgan, who adds she saw the study “as an exciting opportunity to participate in a multidisciplinary research team working together to gain a better understanding of the complex dynamics around the issue of childhood obesity.

There are three economic experiments, says Ehmke. The first game the mothers play measures how willing they are to accept uncertainty. One of the complications we think is that, even though being obese can bring heart problems and other health issues, people give up a lot of pleasure to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” she says.

In another game, the mother gives money to her child to be spent on food. The experiment looks at her generosity and the child’s willingness to control the parent. “Some children are more controlling in the relationship, and, if so, they are getting more from their parent,” she notes.

The third game looks at understanding how the mother views the future by looking at whether they have a preference for a return on money in the short term or if willing to put off receiving a return.

Larson measures the BMI of mother and child. In adults, says Larson, a BMI greater than 26 is considered overweight and BMIs more than 30 are obese. Children are compared against BMI-for-age charts that provide a percentile ranking. Children are no longer called obese but “at risk for overweight” and “overweight.

Participants undergo a six-minute walk test. “We ask them to walk as many laps as they can,” says Larson-Meyer, whose background and training is in exercise and nutrition-related research.

The exercise physiologist follows them in the inside line and periodically assesses their perceived exertion.

Children BMI percentiles have ranged from 32 - 98.6. BMIs of the mothers were not available. Data from the study will probably not be available until fall.

Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor
Phone: (307) 766-6342
E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu
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