Oct 22, 2014 02:04 PM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Purdue University in Indiana will set up a research center focusing on nutrition education and obesity prevention with the support of a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), school officials announced.

The Midwestern university is establishing one of four regional centers for research into nutrition education and obesity prevention in a nationwide project of the USDA. Other regional centers are being established at Colorado State University, Cornell University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A national center to communicate findings from the regional centers will be at the University of Kentucky.

Nearly one-third of American children are overweight or obese.

"Impoverished and disadvantaged populations generally eat lower-quality diets and are more food insecure, resulting in higher levels of obesity and increased risk for diet-related diseases including Type 2 diabetes, cancers, hypertension and heart disease," Dennis Savaiano, Virginia Meredith professor of Nutrition Policy, said in a statement. "The personal and economic burden of these diet-related diseases is one of the America's greatest health challenges. This center will focus its research on improving food availability and diet quality for this at-risk group."

The two-year funding supports USDA's strategic goal of developing and extending a research-based approach to obesity prevention, ultimately to produce measurable improvements in health, obesity, nutrition and outcomes related to physical activity.  

Purdue University's center will focus on research into interpersonal, community and environmental factors that likely influence the food and physical activity behaviors of low-income and disadvantaged people. The objective of that socio-ecological research is to help the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, better evolve and respond to changing needs of their target populations.

Researchers from Purdue and more than a dozen other universities will collaborate at the North Central Nutrition Education Center of Excellence. 

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit