For years, childhood obesity has been a growing concern in the United States, affecting one in five children. Traditional recommendations for prevention have focused on reducing screen time, promoting healthy diets, and encouraging exercise.
Keith Brazendale, an associate professor at the University of Central Florida (UCF), is taking a different approach. He has received a $453,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate whether providing free summer camps to children could be an effective intervention against childhood obesity.
“This won’t require 20 years in a lab,” said Brazendale regarding his study that will take place over the next two summers. “Everything is already in place to impact childhood obesity. I think that’s what raised so much curiosity from my proposal. Can it really be this simple?”
Brazendale aims to shift perspectives on improving children’s health. “My ultimate goal is to shift our mindset about how we improve the health of kids,” he said from his office at UCF’s College of Health Professions and Sciences. “Because up until now, I believe we’ve gotten it all wrong.”
The project will involve community pediatricians, summer camp organizers, and low-income families. Before the summers of 2026 and 2027 begin, pediatricians will give camp vouchers to 40 children who meet certain weight and body mass index criteria. The study will collect data before and after camp attendance as part of Brazendale’s Structured Day Hypothesis.
“It’s clear that structure is enough to mitigate much of the weight gain we’re observing in American children. I’m hopeful a study like this will affect change in public health policy,” said Brazendale.
He points out that most research has been conducted during the school year—a period with natural daily structure—while evidence suggests significant weight gain occurs during less structured summer breaks. According to Brazendale, “Schools actually do a great job because of structure built into each day… Meanwhile, we’ve ignored 20 years of evidence showing weight gain and loss of fitness occurring during summer.”
Pediatricians have observed that children often gain more weight during summer months when many do not have access to structured activities due to financial constraints. “People my age think of summer as an active time when it really isn’t, especially for kids whose families can’t afford pricey camps and club sports. So, let’s see what happens when we help them fill those empty weeks with free and fun structured activity,” Brazendale said.
If successful, Brazendale believes this intervention could encourage public policies supporting subsidized camp enrollment for children from low-income families nationwide.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), annual medical costs related to obesity among U.S. children reached approximately $1.3 billion in 2019; per capita medical costs were higher for obese children compared with those at healthy weights.
“Imagine where this could lead,” said Brazendale. “Pediatricians would prescribe summer camp as medicine. The health of children would not be limited by family incomes. The research findings would encourage public policy to subsidize camp enrollment the way we do with Head Start. There would be relief on our medical practitioners and on our healthcare system. Childhood obesity rates would decline and long-term health would improve.”
