Childhood and Teen Obesity

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Childhood and Teen Obesity

• By Sarah Feng
• Baker Center Summer Internship
• Project Citizen

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The Problem
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What is Child/Teen Obesity?

• Obesity is defined as having a body mass index
  greater than the ninety-fifth percentile for
  ones age.
• Also characterized by excess adiposity (fat).

Powerpoint Child Obesity Teleconference June
4th, 2008
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Why Obesity is a Serious Problem

• Over the past two decades, the number of obese
  people in the U.S. has gone up from 12 to 32.
• Obesity is the second leading cause of
  preventable death in the U.S.
• Heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes
• Cancers, including colon and gall bladder
• Direct costs of obesity-related conditions around
  100 billion in 2002.

http//www.annecollins.com/lose_weight/obesity-dan
gers.htm
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Facebook Survey Results

• I conducted a survey on Facebook asking three
  questions
• What are the causes of obesity?
• What can schools do to combat obesity?
• What can the home do to combat obesity?
• 22 students responded.

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Causes of Obesity

• Laziness
• Fast food
• Marketing of junk foods
• Larger portion sizes
• Technology makes it easy to live a sedentary
  lifestyle.

• Schools do not serve healthy lunches.
• Parents set bad examples for their children.
• In some rarer cases, obesity is due to genetic
  conditions.

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What Schools Can Do to Help

• Require physical education classes to be taken
  each year.
• Broaden sports opportunities so not only the
  elite can participate.
• More thorough education on the dangers of obesity
  and how to prevent it.
• Serve healthier tastier foods for lunch.

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What the Home Can Do to Help

• Do not keep junk food around the house.
• Encourage children to participate in a sport.
• Parents need to teach kids and practice
  themselves healthy habits from a young age.
• Eat more home-cooked meals rather than eating
  out.
• Limit TV, internet, and video game usage.

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Alternative Policies
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What is the nation doing to combat obesity?

• Georgia state law
• Illinois PE program
• Project Healthy Schools
• Tennessees calcium campaign
• Texas legislation
• Mandated nutrition education
• Resources for health teachers

http//ceep.indiana.edu/projects/PDF/PolicyBrief_C
hildhood_Obesity.pdf
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Results of Project Healthy Schools in Middle
Schools

• ITEMS ADDED
• Celery/peanut butter
• Carrots/ranch dip
• Grapes and fruit salad
• Low fat yogurt

• ITEMS ELIMINATED
• High-fat meat pizza
• 2 for 1 hot dogs
• Candy
• Ice cream snacks
• Double bacon cheeseburgers

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What is Knox County doing to combat obesity?

• Ninety minutes of exercise
• Smart lunches
• Wellness classes
• Law that criteria be developed for foods
• Nutri Café

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Disadvantages of the Current Policy

• Many teachers refuse to participate in the ninety
  minutes of exercise because it takes time out of
  class.
• Students do not choose the smart lunches very
  frequently.
• Wellness classes are not very productive and
  often involve being sedentary for an hour or more.

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Action Plan
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New Policy

• Nutrition info in plain sight
• Healthy marketing
• Activity break
• Healthy vending machine

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Which item at Dunkin Donuts has the fewest
calories?

• Sesame bagel with cream cheese
• 2 jelly filled donuts
• Banana walnut muffin
• A medium (24 oz.) strawberry banana smoothie

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Which item at Dunkin Donuts has the fewest
calories?

• Sesame bagel with cream cheese 570 cal
• 2 jelly filled donuts -420
• Banana walnut muffin 540 cal
• A medium (24 oz.) strawberry banana smoothie 550
  cal

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Action Plan

• Meeting with foodservice director.
• Measure and update nutrition info.
• After school club for marketing.
• School board meeting for activity break.
• USDA inspected vending machines

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Who Would Support and Who Would Oppose

• SUPPORTERS
• Parents
• Doctors
• Some students
• Knox County Health Department

• OPPONENTS
• Some students
• Parents
• Junk food companies
• Clubs/Sports (no fundraisers)
• School (less money from cafeteria vending
  machines)

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Special Thanks To

• All my fellow interns
• Everyone who responded to my survey.
• Karen Wetherall
• Indiya Cincannon
• Carolyn Perryburst
• Gavin Luter