Obesity in the Headlines

July 20, 2004 - Green Bay Press Gazette

Local health officials sound 'wake-up call' to child obesity

By Jean Peerenboom

Nearly one in three children ages 6 to 19 is overweight and one in six is considered obese, according to the American Obesity Association. And those numbers are increasing at an alarming rate, enough that local health experts are calling the problem an epidemic.

The Brown County Healthy Weight Coalition for Youth Obesity Initiative and Prevea Clinic's new Every Body Health Initiative are two local groups working to raise awareness and reverse this growing trend.

Obese children are more likely to be obese adults. Successfully preventing or treating obesity in childhood may reduce the risk of adult obesity, which helps reduce the risk of heart disease and other diseases, including type 2 diabetes.

"This is a very important issue for families in our area, as well as throughout the nation," said Dr. Paul Scott, a family physician and medical director of the Prevea initiative.

"Too often we want to blame the kids. But look at the home. Shut off the TV, get the junk foods out of the house. Get the TVs out of the bedrooms. Limit video games. Then start exercising as a family or as a group."

Scott said the national trend shows obesity going up - nearly doubling in 10 years. "We are collecting data in Green Bay to see how it is here, but we expect to see more obesity if we are following the national trend."

In 1974, 4.3 percent of boys and 3.6 percent of girls ages 6 to 11 were obese. In 1994, those numbers were 11.6 percent and 11 percent. By 2000, they had risen to 16 and 14.5 percent, according to the American Heart Association.

"What we're seeing is literature trying to raise awareness. Obesity rates have increased dramatically for youth and teens," said Bret Salscheider, center executive for the West Side YMCA and a member of the Brown County Healthy Weight Coalition. "It's amazing to see how it's grown over the past 20 years."

The coalition started in July 2003 and now has about 15 participating agencies, including the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay, Brown County Health Department, Brown County University of Wisconsin-Extension, St. Vincent Hospital, Aurora Medical Group, and the Ashwaubenon and Green Bay school districts, said Judy Brose, of the Women, Infants and Children Program and a member of the coalition.

The mission, she said, is to prevent obesity and improve the health of children, families and communities. This will be done through education and promotion of better nutrition and increased physical activity.

Still in the formative stage, it has received some money to offer grants to agencies to do projects in schools or through their agency. The coalition plans to have a presence at health fairs, provide reference materials and offer kits with pedometers in them, she said.

"We want to encourage people to do what you can do as a group to get kids moving," Brose said. The group meets at 7:30 a.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at the University of Wisconsin-Extension office on Bellevue Street.

Prevea announced plans to fight the obesity epidemic, focusing primarily on children in its July newsletter. The physicians are working with local health agencies to develop an effective program to educate families about the problem and ways to prevent it, according to Scott.

"We recognize the importance of preventing childhood obesity and want to take the first steps in educating our patients and the community," Scott said.

"We hope to give a wake-up call: Change yourselves and your kids' diets and start exercising."

Obesity for children is defined as too much body fat. With children and adolescents, it's important to consider both the weight and the body composition, according to health professionals. Recommendations for ideal weights and body mass indexes are based on age, height and growth patterns.