A study of the effects of Oregon

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A study of the effects of Oregons obesity
epidemic on Salems primary school students

• By Cord Jonson

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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?

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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Obesity in Oregon

• In Fact, while in 1991 Oregons 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.

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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.

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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, childrens 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.

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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 dont 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.

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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.

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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.
  Thats roughly twice as much as what most schools
  provide.

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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.

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What is being done?

• In 2003, the Oregon Health and Sciences
  University sponsored a town hall style meeting
  for Oregonians to discuss solutions to Oregons
  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.

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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 its 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.

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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.

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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).