Research Based
CATCH was originally designed as a 3 year research study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The research study was called: “The Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health”, or CATCH. The goal was to determine the effectiveness of school based health education (changes to the school environment, classroom curricula and home programs) at reducing the fat in school lunches and improving the health behavior choices of students. Over 5,000 third grade students from 96 elementary schools in 4 geographically diverse regions took part. The students were culturally diverse and were representative of the school population of the United States as a whole. The original CATCH study is the largest, most rigorous school based study ever conducted!

The CATCH study was conducted by researchers at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine – New Orleans, University of California – San Diego, University of Minnesota – Minneapolis, and University of Texas – Houston using curricula that set as its goal to change policies and practices of schools in order to affect changes in health risk factors and risk-related behaviors.

The goals were to reduce the fat in school lunches, increase the amount of time that students spent in Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) in their Physical Education classes, and to positively affect the nutrition and activity choices of students.

Proven Results
CATCH worked! The CATCH study was shown to reduce the fat content of school lunches, increased the MVPA of physical education classes and improve the nutrition and activity choices of students during the time of the study. View a video overview (Windows Media or Real Player required) on this important study and the results that can be achieved by implementing CATCH!

A Lasting Effect
3 years later, a follow up study of the same students was completed. This study showed that students that participated in the intervention had higher levels of vigorous activity daily, consumed less calories of fat, and displayed better dietary knowledge and intentions than their peers in the control group of the study.

CATCH Today
The CATCH curriculum has been expanded to include: physical education for grades K-2 and 6-8, and after school unit called “CATCH Kid’s Club”, a partnership with the National Recreation and Parks Association as the activity component of their “Hearts’N Parks” program, and a Diabetes prevention unit for the classroom. CATCH has been adopted and implemented in over 4,000 schools across the United States and even around the world.

Now in its second edition, CATCH continues to be the most extensively researched health and physical education curriculum available today. CATCH even has a new name: The “Coordinated Approach to School Health”.

And CATCH means more today that it ever has. With the alarming increases in childhood overweight and obesity and the dramatic increases in Type II Diabetes, schools are the ideal place to affect the health related behaviors of students. CATCH is the proven solution for addressing this urgent problem.