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Obese as a child, UMW student Vincent Noori |
BY JIM HALL
The solution to the problem of childhood obesity is easy: Get kids to eat right and exercise regularly.
The hard part: How?
"It's simple in concept," said Dr. Thomas Franck.
"But it's extremely difficult to treat this problem."
Franck, the director of the Rappahannock Area Health District, joined civic, government and health leaders from across the region Thursday for a forum in Spotsylvania County on childhood obesity.
Organizers billed the event as a "call for action," a recognition that without a long-term community effort, children will grow fatter into an unhealthy adulthood.
"This is an attempt to launch the ship," said Edd Houck, director of corporate and community services for MediCorp Health System and one of the organizers.
Representatives of more than a dozen organizations, from the Caroline Health Alliance to the Rappahannock YMCA, took part. MediCorp and Spotsylvania County schools sponsored the event.
Participants watched as Franck used color-coded maps from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to document how American adults have grown heavier.
In the 1980s, the maps were blue to signal obesity rates of less than 14 percent, Franck said. After 1991, however, the CDC had to add colors and categories as state rates climbed past 20 percent, then 25 percent and now 30 percent and more.
"We've got a real serious trend here," Franck said. "I wanted to show you how slowly it's crept up on us."
As for children, between 14 percent and 19 percent are obese, depending on their ages, Franck added.
"Obese kids go on to become obese adults," he said.
School personnel offered their own examples: fourth-graders who weigh 150 pounds, and 11-year-olds with waists greater than 50 inches.
The extra weight causes both emotional and physical problems, participants said.
Sarah Mathena, a school counselor, told of a middle school student who was upset when another student made animal noises and told her, "Go back to the barn."
Vincent Noori, a junior at the University of Mary Washington, said that when he was in middle school someone put a note in his locker with the phone number for the Jenny Craig diet program.
"I know what it's like to be teased," he said.
Obesity is also linked to increased rates of heart disease, cancer and stroke, Franck said. Recent studies have found overweight teens with the beginnings of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, he added.
Nancy Farrell, wellness coordinator for Spotsylvania schools, said the school system has been following the health of a select group of 500 children for three years.
"We do see an increase in triglycerides and cholesterol levels," she said.
Participants agreed to enlist the help of parents in getting kids active and eating right. All pledged their long-term help for the effort.
"There's a lot of different pieces to the puzzle," Houck, a state senator from Spotsylvania, said afterward. "Now we've got to break it down in a meaningful, doable way."
Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
Email: jhall@freelancestar.com
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Obesity in children is An obese child has a BMI A person's BMI is his weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters. |
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Vincent Noori is happy with his appearance at 5 feet 8 inches and 158 pounds.
His weight is almost exactly what it was eight years ago in middle school, but he was not happy then. "Physically I felt horrible Noori recounted his experience as an overweight adolescent for a forum on childhood obesity, held Thursday in Spotsylvania County. He said he grew up in Augusta, Maine, where it was hard "I was pretty heavy," he said. By the time he got to high school, he was determined "I did a lot of running and played more sports," he said. Today, he is a 20-year-old junior at the University of Mary Washington. Dr. Alice Noori, his mother, is a local pediatrician. "I want to be involved so I can help adolescents stay active, motivated and have healthier diets," Vincent Noori said. --Jim Hall |
