Tuesday August 28, 2012

PITTSFIELD

Dr. Jacqueline Jones of Berkshire Pediatric Associates is partnering with The Nutrition Center to launch a new after-school kids cooking and nutrition education program in Pittsfield this school year.

The partners are acting under a $12,000 pediatric grant it received from CATCH (Community Access to Child Health), a national program of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Body Mass Index (BMI) screening data, 34 percent, or 2,559 children in the Pittsfield public school district are considered overweight or obese.

BMI is calculated by using a formula that compares a person's height and weight with a set of BMI standards by gender. If a person's BMI number is above the 85 percentile, they are considered to be at risk of obesity; a BMI above the 95th percentile is an indicator of obesity.

"Learning basic cooking skills during childhood has been shown to lead to life-long behavior changes for better health," said Peter Stanton, director of The Nutrition Center. He holds a master of science degree as a registered dietitian and is a state-licensed dietitian/nutritionist.

The nonprofit Nutrition Center provides community-based-nutrition education, cooking classes and clinical nutrition counseling for better health and disease prevention. This summer, it opened a new office and moved its administrative headquarters from Great Barrington to Pittsfield.

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"[Obesity is] such a huge problem in our population. We want to give parents and kids tools to be healthy," said Jones.

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After-school program highlights cooking, nutrition