A study of the effects of Oregon’s obesity epidemic on Salem’s

primary school students

By: Cord Jonson

Overview

• This presentation will attempt to address the following questions:

• How serious is the obesity epidemic in America today?

• How does childhood obesity in Oregon compare to national averages?

• What are the primary causes of this epidemic, and what is being done to combat it?

• What did I see in my experiences at the Bush school in terms of evidence of this epidemic or in terms of evidence of an attempt to combat it?

General information about obesity in America

• Nearly two out of every three Americans are overweight or obese.• One out of every eight deaths in America is caused by an illness

directly related to being obese or overweight (Primarily diabetes, heart disease, asthma, hypertension and joint damage). This comes out to around 300,000 deaths per year.

• A recent study showed that people considered to be obese use 39% more health care resources and 100% more pharmaceuticals than those who are not obese.

• This year well over 100 billion dollars in health care spending will go towards treating ailments directly related to obesity.

• Obesity is more prevalent in men. It is significantly more prevalent in Mexican and African Americans. It is significantly more prevalent in low-income families and. It is twice as prevalent in high school drop outs than in college graduates.

Health problems associated with obesity:

• Diabetes• Heart disease• Asthma• Sleep apnea• Hyper tension• Mental health issues related to social stigma

associated with obesity and overweight.• Gall bladder disease• Osteoarthritis

Correlations between adult and childhood obesity

• Heredity has a significant influence on obesity, regional fat distribution and response to overfeeding.

• Children of obese parents are more likely to adopt behavior that encourages obesity.

• If a child has an obese parent, his or her risk of becoming obese doubles.

Childhood obesity in America

• Between 1963 and 2002, the percentage of obese children in America rose from 4.2% to 15.8%

• Obesity rates are significantly higher for children from low-income families, because eating energy-dense, highly palatable, refined foods is cheaper per calorie consumed than buying fish and fresh fruits and vegetables

Childhood obesity in America• Childhood and adolescent obesity

has been proven to strongly influence adult obesity. In fact, about 80 percent of obese adolescent will become obese adults.

• This is a serious problem because in addition to the physical health problems related to obesity, obese children are more likely to suffer from low self esteem and there have been studies that revealed a clear correlation between obesity and poor academic performance. It has also been proven that obese or overweight people are less likely to get hired for jobs later on in life.

Obesity in Oregon

• Oregon has recently been labeled “the fattest state west of the Rockies.” by the Portland Tribune.

• 22% of adults in Oregon are obese and 60% are overweight.

• Between 1990 and 2002, the obesity rate for Oregon adults increased by a staggering 86 percent.

Obesity in Oregon

• In Fact, while in 1991 Oregon’s obesity rate was a respectable .8% below the national average, by 2000 Oregon that number had jumped to 21%. This means that while obesity in America was rising at .78% a year, obesity in Oregon was rising at 9.8% per year. This also means that although in 2000 Oregon had the 15th highest obesity percentage in the nation, it had the 5th highest obesity growth rate during the period from 1991-2000.

Childhood obesity in Oregon

• Oregon has a disproportionately high childhood obesity rate: According to one study, Oregon has the 32nd highest adult obesity rate in the country, but the 7th highest overweight level for low-income children.

• According to another study, 31% of low-income children between 2 and 5 years of age in Oregon are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight .

• Only 18 states limit the availability of competitive food in schools beyond federal requirements- Oregon is not one of them.

Kill your TV• Today the average American child

spends 900 hours per year in school and 1,023 hours per year in front of a TV.

• Children in America watch approximately 4 hours of TV a day. TV has largely replaced physical activity, reading and socializing.

• While watching TV, children’s metabolism slows down significantly.

• While watching TV, children are significantly more likely to be snacking.

• While watching TV, children are constantly bombarded by advertising for unhealthy foods.

Other causes of childhood obesity

Children are exposed to unhealthy foods to a much greater degree: Many public high schools now have lucrative deals with fast food companies that allow the companies to set up franchises inside the schools.

Funding for Physical Education has been drastically cut in the last few decades. In fact, in some states (Oklahoma and South Dakota) there are no physical education requirements for primary and secondary schools.

Change in family structure: It is now quite common for both parents to work full time, and often parents simply don’t have the time to make home cooked meals on a regular basis.

Refusal to recognize problem: 8% of parents with obese children actually think that their child is underweight.

What is being done?

• CDC and US Department of Health launched the VERB campaign to encourage “tweens” (people aged 9-13) to be physically active every day.

• This campaign aims to make regular physical activity seem “cool” and is unique because it uses paid advertising and marketing strategies.

What is being done?• In 2004, the childhood obesity reduction act was introduced by Oregon

senator Ron Wyden. This act aims to provide a website to help parents and teachers learn about different successful exercise and nutrition programs. It would also provide funding for these successful programs, focusing on areas of the country with high rates of obesity and overweight.

• 17 states and DC have enacted snack and soda taxes, in an attempt to discourage the consumption of food low in nutrients

• Salem Hospital has recently opened a Salem chapter of Committed to Kids, a national weight-management program that teaches habits of healthy living to obese children and their parents.

• “Oregon legislators are developing bills for the 2005 session that would mandate daily physical education in kindergarten through eighth grade, ban vending machines, require reporting of students’ obesity status and apply tougher nutrition standards to food in cafeterias. A physical education bill would mandate up to 225 minutes a week in middle schools, with at least half in moderate to vigorous physical activity. That’s roughly twice as much as what most schools provide.”

What is being done?• Health Promotion and chronic

disease prevention program:• Walk to school- encourages kids

to walk and bike to school.• 5 a day- Encourages Oregonians

to increase vegetable and fruit servings to 5-9 a day.

• Safe routes to school: Encourages Walk to School program by establishing safe routes for kids to take to school.

• “TV Turnoff” program: Designed to encourage Americans to watch less TV and spend more time exercising, reading and bonding with family members.

What is being done?• In 2003, the Oregon Health and

Sciences University sponsored a “town hall” style meeting for Oregonians to discuss solutions to Oregon’s sky-rocketing rates of obesity and overweight.

• In 2004, the Oregon Medical Association adopted a policy on addressing the obesity epidemic. The policy aims to increase public awareness or the epidemic and the health problems associated with it, educate the public in treating a preventing the epidemic, encourage doctors to pay more attention to obesity and overweight, and encourage programs aimed at increasing physical activity.

My experiences• The Bush school is a public

elementary school located in downtown Salem.

• I have spent most of my time mentoring on particular 4th grade student, but have also helped out in other classrooms.

• 3 factors that could lead one to reasonably assume that obesity rates might be higher than average: it’s in Oregon, children are generally from low-income families, and there is a relatively high percentage of Mexican American students, a group who has been demonstrated to be significantly more at risk.

My experiences• Since the national childhood

obesity rate should be just over 16% by now, and since childhood obesity in Oregon has been significantly higher than the national average, I would have figured, based purely on my research, that I could reasonably expect the percentage of obese or overweight children to be somewhere between 17% 19%

• However, in my time spent in the after-school BOOST program with three different classes of about 12 children each, I only noticed 5 children that seemed to be significantly overweight, or roughly 13%.

My experiences• Reasons for children in BOOST

program to have lower than expected rates of obesity or overweight:

• The BOOST program provides children with snacks that seem to be relatively healthy- often vegetables or fruit or crackers and juice.

• The BOOST program encourages physical activity by having 30 minutes of mandatory outside time for every 2 hour session, during which literally every child that I observed was participating in some kind of athletic activity.

• The BOOST program is conducted during hours when the majority of American children are watching TV and snacking (immediately after school: 3-5 PM).