Subscribe to Health UpdatesObese Children Feel Singled Out by Schools
30 Second Summary
According to the Mayo Clinic, about 25 million children and adolescents are overweight or are nearly overweight.
A child is considered obese if she or he falls within the 95th percentile or above for body mass index (BMI), which calculates a person's weight compared to height.
Businesses, including IBM, General Motors and Pfizer, have introduced "wellness incentives" to their employees in which employees are encouraged and rewarded for living a healthy lifestyle.
Headline
Parents of obese children in the Campbell County School District in Wyoming feel the school board has crossed the line and embarrassed children by singling them out with "fat report cards." Dr. Dave Fall, the chairman of the Campbell County School Board and a pediatrician explains,"We're not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, but we just want them to have the information."
Source: ABC News
The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University considers the pros and cons of a BMI report card. One main positive is that generating greater body awareness could prompt children to eat more nutritiously. A major drawback is that the BMI measure does not factor for muscle mass, meaning that some children with high BMI's are not clinically overweight.
Source: Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity
Source: Dallas KLBK13 report on childhood obesity
Background
The School Nutrition Association provides an overview of all school districts that have eliminated or are in the process of eliminating trans fats from the school menu. Also, legislation concerning healthy school lunches is covered state by state. The Association's mission is to provide healthful school meals and nutrition education.
Source: School Nutrition Association
Florida's secretary of Corrections has proposed that all 19,000 correctional officers pass mandatory fitness tests. Several businesses including General Motors and Pfizer have similar "wellness incentive" programs in which their employees are encouraged and rewarded for leading a healthy lifestyle.
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Reference Material
According to the American Obesity Association, childhood obesity is caused by several factors including: lack of physical activity, eating habits, socio-economic status and genetics.
Source: American Obesity Association
The U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health recommend that if a child needs to lose weight, parents should involve the whole family so that the child does not feel singled out.
Source: Medline Plus
Updated in January 2006, the National Conference of State Legislatures outlines the policies of each state legislature regarding childhood obesity policies.
Source: State Legislation Policy Overview for Child Obesity
On April 5th, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced it would contribute 500 million dollars to fight childhood obesity. Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President of the Foundation, outlines the Foundation's program to stop childhood obesity with Dr. Joseph Thompson, Arkansas Surgeon General on PBS's News Hour.
Source: PBS Online NewsHour
According to a study by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Public Health Advocacy Institute, most soda vending machine deals raise an average of $18 per student per year for schools. The study dealt with school systems from 16 states, analyzing 120 contracts with beverage companies. It is the first multi-state analysis of such contracts.
The full text of this study is available in pdf format.
Source: Raw Deal: School Beverage Contracts Less Lucrative Than They Seem
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