A Cornell economist in collaboration with Dr. Oz of TV fame finds that using peer mentors in high schools is an effective way to get teens to make better food choices and get more exercise.

The study's most striking finding: The mentoring program prompted high school students to cut their consumption of soda pop by 13 percent -- 26 percent among girls. The study also found evidence that students in the program increased exercise and showed improved health knowledge.

The research, conducted by John Cawley, Cornell professor of policy analysis and management and of economics, and co-authored with Mehmet Oz, M.D., among others, is published in the October issue of Childhood Obesity (7:5).

Cawley assessed the effects of HealthCorps, a peer mentoring program in at-risk communities founded by Oz, a cardiac surgeon and two-time Emmy Award-winning host of "The Dr. Oz Show." The mentors were specially trained recent college graduates who taught nutrition, health and physical activity promotion to 511 high school students in six at-risk high schools in New York City; 460 students in five other similar schools served as the control group.

The mentors gave workshops in health education classes, weekly lunch seminars and offered drop-in office hours and after-school clubs for discussion and group physical activity. They also partnered with public health departments, school systems, foundations, the business community and other nonprofit organizations to coalesce all their efforts.

"The results suggest that peer mentoring holds promise for improving youth diet and physical activity," Cawley said, adding that since 1970, the prevalence of obesity has more than tripled among adolescents age 12-19 years, but that many interventions to prevent obesity among minority, low-income youths -- who are at the greatest risk of obesity -- have had disappointing results.

Cawley said, "The Institute of Medicine has declared that there is an urgent need for researchers to determine what programs work and do not work to improve youth diets and physical activity; we are pleased that the evaluation of HealthCorps adds to the evidence base that will enable additional schools and districts to implement programs that improve student health."

This effort was unique, he said, because it not only involved the collaboration of New York City public schools and the nonprofit organization HealthCorps, but also the nonprofit sector (Health and Human Services System in New York City), a health insurance company (Affinity Health Plan, a nonprofit managed health care organization in the Bronx, N.Y., that funded the study), physicians and academics.

This academic year, HealthCorps will be implemented in 13 states and will reach at least 32,400 teenagers in 54 schools and 64,800 community residents, according to the paper.

"My vision for HealthCorps is to engage America's young people as the catalyst to enhance the nation's health," said Oz. "Although no one program can be a panacea for the health issues plaguing America, the HealthCorps program is an effective path forward. Peer mentoring is a proven model for educating youth, and the findings of this study prove that peer educators can extend their reach to health and physical education."