Funded by the National Institute for Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health, the study began in 1990 with 2200 third and fourth grade students.
Students are now in high school.
The first, provided to 3rd and 4th graders, was successful in reducing body fat and cholesterol and increasing fitness, physical activity and health knowledge. The studies have been conducted in 15 counties across North Carolina and have involved approximately 50 elementary, middle and high schools. First, if they were either rural or urban. That is, urban schools are located in cities with at least 50,000 population. Rural schools are located in counties that do not contain a city of greater than 50,000 population and are in towns of less than 2500 population.