Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart. Play Hard.

Also: Shape Up Somerville

CDC-funded, Tufts University-led community trial (2002-2005) in Somerville, Massachusetts that changed the before-school, school, after-school, home and community environment to add physical activity options and healthier food for children in grades 1-3, compared with two matched cities.

Years: 2002–2005
Country: United States
Topic: Nutrition Physical activity
Asks people to: Start Substitute
Strategy: Multi level community
Channel: Clinical setting School
Audience: Parents Youth
Children in grades 1-3 (mean age 7.6) in Somerville public elementary schools, their families and the wider community.

Evidence

Quasi-experimentalPositive

Non-randomised controlled trial, 1,178 children in Somerville and two socio-demographically matched control cities. After the first intervention year, BMI z-score fell by 0.1005 (95% CI -0.1151 to -0.0859, p = 0.001) in Somerville relative to controls, after adjusting for baseline covariates (Economos et al. 2007). Registered on ClinicalTrials.gov in September 2005, after the study ended, so not preregistered.

Sponsor (who paid)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Federal government, funder
Tufts University (Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy) Academic, creator and evaluator

Credits (who made it)

Christina D. Economos Individual, 2002-2005 source

Sources

Economos CD et al. A community intervention reduces BMI z-score in children: Shape Up Somerville first year results. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2007;15(5):1325-36 evaluation · 2007 · DOI 10.1038/oby.2007.155 · PMID 17495210
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00153322: Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart Play Hard reference · 2005

Research notes

Start November 2002 and completion June 2005 from the ClinicalTrials.gov record (API read). The main outcome is weight, with physical activity one of two levers; physical activity was not reported as a separate outcome in the abstract. Later papers (e.g. CDC Preventing Chronic Disease 2009 pieces on Somerville) seen only in search results. Media, restaurant and city-policy components named in the abstract only as groups engaged; channels limited to what is clear. Reuse terms checked 2026-10-23 by an AI research pass for #47; not yet reviewed by a person.

Record cases/shape-up-somerville.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign