Comments on: Recent events on the obesity front

By: Carrie

Carrie — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:35:54 +0000

I’m reading the CDC Community Strategies to Prevent Obesity and I’m struck by how many of the strategies seem best suited for federal intervention (local communities should provide incentives for the production, distribution, and procurement of foods from local farms? Isn’t the encouragement of local production of crops other than commodities a place that the federal government has the most leverage on via the Farm Bill? Local governments should limit advertisements of less healthy foods? Again, isn’t that more the place of the FCC?) Is CDC just pushing these down to the local level because there is a reluctance to engage on the real driver of the obesity epidemic – the food industry and federal food policy.
The only bright spot is the the direction that “Communities should discourage consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.” Finally, a government entity saying “Drink less soda.”

By: Gina

Gina — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:13:49 +0000

While marketing plays an important role in childhood obesity, I truly believe that parents and communities hold the ultimate responsibility for children’s health. We need to get junk food out of our schools and other places that children frequent. If they don’t have the access, they won’t consume it! We also need to make sure that we are supporting businesses in our communities that are bringing fresh food to low-income neighborhoods. Remember, they won’t eat what they don’t have access to!

Childhood obesity rates are highest in low-income neighborhoods where they have little to no access to fresh, quality foods – but plenty of choices for inexpensive, over-processed food filled with fat, high fructose corn syrup, additives & preservatives and little vitamins and minerals.

We need to educate the community members and fight for better options. This will take more than a village!

By: Cathy Richards

Cathy Richards — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:35:21 +0000

would love to see average household income 2003 vs 2007 compared to the obesity rates, or per cent of state budget spent on public health and education 2003 vs 2007.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:44:22 +0000

That’s easy. IIRC overweight means 85~95th percentile by age and height and obese means ≥95th percentile. The studies used to determine percentile are from a meta-analysis of several studies from the 1950s to the 1970s.

With American Indian and Alaska Native kids one big reason for the continuing increase in obesity is fairly obvious when you look at government foodstuffs. Mostly flour and vegetable shortening. In other words purified macronutrient with minimal nutritional value. The shortening for instance is 4.381% linoleic acid and .037% linolenic acid. It’s 30.867% elaidic acid (trans fat) in the mean time. Of course it’s pure fat with the 9 calories per gram that implies. To get all the linoleic acid a typical woman needs daily would require 2739 grams of shortening. The linolenic acid requirement is worse: 3.24*10^6 grams of shortening!

Commodity flour has all the same issues all refined carbohydrate does.

By: W. Swift

W. Swift — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:48:10 +0000

On the map, how does it work that some states (e.g. Texas) show higher rates of obese children than of overweight children?

By: Danny

Danny — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:20:53 +0000

I think it’s good that the CDC doesn’t discuss how it should be done. In New York for example, they tried to implement those fruit carts in the food deserts of NYC. That’s a good idea. It’s maybe something that the CDC could suggest other communities to look at, but programs like that are so specific to a community that it may not even be viable in other cities.