SPOTLIGHTS

GLENN FLORES

A pediatrician conducting research on Latino childhood obesity

Conducting research on obesity in Latino children was a natural move for pediatrician and researcher Glenn Flores.

Caring for under-served children has dominated his 14-year medical practice in Boston, Milwaukee, and Dallas. His research interests complement the clinical work: examining racial and ethnic disparities in children's health; developing and testing community-based interventions to improve underserved children's health; and insuring uninsured children.

"Several different pathways led to this work [obesity research in Latino children]—my passion for working with children, my passion for public health, and all the issues that came up in my medical practice," said Dr. Flores, professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center. "I believe there are lots of ways researchers can integrate Latino childhood obesity prevention into their current interests."

Dr. Flores' first foray into his new line of research was an application to the Healthy Wisconsin Partnership Program to support a randomized trial of a culturally appropriate weight loss intervention for overweight Latino children. Though he didn't have an established track record in childhood obesity research, he capitalized on his extensive research experience with Latino children.

"It's hard to avoid obesity, since Latino kids have some of the highest rates in the U.S. and type 2 diabetes is also big in Latino kids," he said.

Dr. Flores won the grant and completed the qualitative research phase, but was unable to complete the Milwaukee randomized trial before moving to Dallas. Still, his work on healthy eating, physical activity and weight management for overweight children, stemming from four focus groups of Latino parents, was presented as a platform presentation at the Pediatric Academic Societies' meeting and will soon be submitted for publication. During the focus groups, parents sampled healthy preparations of traditional Latino cuisine prepare by a Latino chef, such as whole-wheat enchiladas and other healthy alternatives to traditional foods that are high in fat and calories.

"They couldn't believe the enchiladas were whole-wheat," he said. "They were open to the idea of substituting foods. We concluded that successful weight-loss management can involve traditional foods, family involvement as well as culturally sensitive innovation."

In two studies analyzing data on racial/ethnic and language disparities in obesity rates, Dr. Flores found that Latino children and those in households in which Spanish was the primary language had significantly higher adjusted odds of being overweight or obese. In households where Spanish is the primary language, 50.4 percent of Latino children are overweight or obese. In another recent article, Dr. Flores and colleagues found that a multidisciplinary pediatric weight management program can improve the weight status of high-risk populations, including minorities, Medicaid recipients, patients with multiple co-morbidities and cardiovascular risk factors, and the severely obese.

Dr. Flores is continuing to study interventions that address obesity in Latino children in Dallas, where Latinos are the dominant racial/ethnic group.

"We really need to find some effective, culturally-relevant interventions," he said.

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