We all know what the colors on a traffic light stand for. During
the 1970s, Leonard Epstein, PhD, used its tri-color palette to
create an easy-to-follow diet for overweight children.
Known as the Traffic Light diet, it divides foods by the colors
of a traffic signal: green for low-calorie foods that can be eaten
freely; yellow for moderate-calorie foods that can be eaten
occasionally; and red for high-calorie foods that should be eaten
rarely.
Since it was launched, the Traffic Light Diet has been used
widely by pediatricians to encourage healthy eating habits among
their patients. Key to the diet is parental involvement.
Epstein, chief of the division of behavioral medicine in the
Department of Pediatrics, finds that children are most successful
at losing and keeping off extra pounds when the family follows the
plan, too. “Kids model their parents,” he says.
“They learn healthy as well as unhealthy behaviors from
them.”
Since he developed the Stop Light Diet, Epstein hasn’t put
the brakes on his research. As childhood obesity has reached
epidemic proportions in the United States, he and his colleagues at
UB remain committed to probing its causes and cultivating new
treatments.
“Our work continues to develop on multiple levels,”
Epstein says. “We are very interested in the genetics of food
reinforcement and obesity; the role of different behavioral,
dietary and activity approaches to treatment; and how habits
develop. Our work attempts to translate the newest basic science
into effective clinical interventions.”
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