
A few states and cities, according to a r
ecent article in USA Today, show small declines in
childhood obesity rates. The article states:
"We've had 30 years of increasing rates of obesity, but we might be seeing the turning point for this epidemic," says pediatrician James Marks, a senior vice president for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which issued a summary report on the topic. One of the foundation's goals is to reverse childhood obesity in this country.
The gains are pretty small in some communities, but if nothing else they reverse long-building trends of higher obesity rates among kids. "There are enough communities that have had declines that it shows any community that makes these kinds of changes could see their children get healthier," Marks says.
Some cities and states also have increased the quantity and quality of physical activity for students, and many have instituted strong nutrition guidelines for the types of foods that can be sold in vending machines, à la carte lines and school stores, she says.
The decline in childhood obesity could become more widespread with the improvements being made in school food nationwide, Wootan says.
Greater declines in obesity are likely to come when the government implements rules for competitive foods, such as candy, chips, soda, cookies and pastries, sold in vending machines, à la carte lines and school stores, she says. Those should be released later this year and go into effect in two years or so, Wootan says. "That's where we'll see a bigger impact."
Nationally about a third (31.8%) of kids and adolescents, ages 2 to 19, are obese or overweight, government statistics show. About 17% of them -- about 12.5 million kids -- are obese. Children are classified as overweight or obese based on where they fall on body mass index (BMI) growth charts.
Those extra pounds put kids at a greater risk of developing a host of debilitating and costly diseases, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
According to the two groups, these places have made improvements in childhood obesity:
-- In Mississippi, the percentage of children in grades K-5 who were obese or overweight fell from about 43% in 2007 to 37.3% in 2011. (Mississippi has the highest adult obesity rate in the country.)
-- In California, obesity and overweight rates for grades 5, 7 and 9 decreased from 38.44% in 2005 to 38% in 2010.
-- In Anchorage, it declined from 38% in 2002-03 to 36% in 2010-11 for those in kindergarten through 12th grade.
-- In New York City, obesity dropped among kindergartners through 8th graders from 21.9% in 2006-07 to 20.7% in 2010-11.
-- In Philadelphia, obesity among K-12 kids decreased from 21.5% in 2006-07 to 20.5% in 2009-10.
-- In El Paso, obesity among fourth-graders decreased from 25.5% in 2000-02 to 18.8% in 2004-05.
Some reasons for these improvements: In Mississippi, the state board of education set nutritional standards in 2006 for foods and beverages sold in school vending machines, and a 2007 state law required the state's public schools to provide more physical activity time, offer healthier foods and beverages and develop health education programs, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report says.
California set strong nutrition standards for school snacks in 2007, the report notes. The foundation's report also cites a study that found that students in California are consuming 158 fewer calories a day than students in states with weaker nutrition standards.
Read the entire article here.
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