As National Childhood Obesity Month begins, much progress still needed

In September 2010, President Barack Obama declared September National Childhood Obesity Month.

Even for a president with many competing priorities and people to answer to, it was a no-brainer. Childhood obesity had become an epidemic in this country, an issue that could no longer be ignored — even by perfectly healthy people and their families.

Health care costs soared. The rates of Diabetes and heart failure -- particularly at young ages -- reached scary territory.

Not just adults but kids, beginning at a very young age, were getting bigger. Eating worse. Exercising less.

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Fast forward to today, the third day of this year's focus-driven advocacy month. Things are better, relatively speaking. Thanks to NCOAM, Michelle Obama's 'Let's Move,' initiative, leaders across the country who advocate for healthier lifestyles, and nonprofit programs, the needle has shifted.

Obesity rates in many cities have dropped. Not significantly, mind you. The point is that they aren't trending in the other direction -- anymore.

Here's a sampling of the good news:

Obesity rates for children ages 2-5 dropped significantly from 2003-04 to 2011-12; there was a smaller decrease for children ages 6-11 (Wall Street Journal)

The number of obese teens leveled off and the rate of overweight teens dropped slightly between 2005-'06 and 2009-'10 (HealthDay)

In May 2010, DC passed into law the Healthy Schools Act, which has brought more nutritious foods in District meals for students and more education about healthy eating.

The number of schools with gardens, particularly in DC, continued to increase -- leading to healthier foods on children's lunch plates (elevation DC)

State programs in L.A. and New York helped lead to decreasing levels of obesity (U.S. News & World Report)

States like Colorado and California have added mandates to the school curriculum for a course in health and for teachers to have taken health classes, respectively.

The USDA made the first nationwide changes in 15 years to school meals (USDA)

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Yes, progress has undoubtedly been made. Compare that with 2010, when you had to go back decades to see a positive trend, and we should be optimistic.

Still, we're plagued by myriad issues, particularly in Washington, DC. It remains a difficult, often unfeasible task for low-income families to get healthy and affordable food for their families. Food deserts aren't as vast, but still exist and provide obstacles for those who rely on public transportation.

And students still don't get close to the recommended amount of physical activity during the school day (60 minutes), and have few easy-access and free options during the after-school hours.

During the next month, follow @DCSCORES on Twitter as we share statistics and articles about the still-devastating local and national issue and also share how we — and others — effectively fight the epidemic and set youth up for healthy adulthood. 

To combat childhood obesity, DC SCORES makes exercising consistently fun

Program participants and alumni play on a U-16 team
run by volunteer DC SCORES coaches. 

Throughout September, DC SCORES is focusing on National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month -- the problem and numbers both locally and nationally, and what we, other organizations, foundations, and school districts are doing to combat it. We'll have more blog posts, daily Tweets, Facebook posts and LinkedIn updates during the month. We encourage you to join the conversation.

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“The general question of whether early childhood programs can make a difference has been asked and answered in the affirmative innumerable times.” — Institute of Medicine, 2000

DC SCORES makes a difference.

Physical education during the school day is undoubtedly an important aspect of fighting childhood obesity, but it’s only part of the solution. This is especially true considering that children gain weight three times faster during the summer months. Kids need to exercise and stay active during out-of-school time.

In the District of Columbia, DC SCORES is the largest after-school program and gives children the opportunity to stay active year-round both physically and mentally.

Youth play at least 270 minutes of soccer weekly during 12-week fall and spring seasons and around 2-3 hours daily during 14 weeks of summer camps. During a typical week, students practice soccer on two afternoons and then spend Thursday or Friday — Thursdays for elementary schools and Fridays for middle schools — running up and down the field during Game Day.

DC SCORES coaches are trained to dole out equal playing time to all program participants so that no one is left inactive on the sideline. We run the only elementary and middle public school soccer leagues for both boys and girls in the District.

That’s the case partly because budget cuts have dealt a blow to physical education programs all over the country. Only 3.8 percent of elementary schools, 7.9 percent of middle schools, and 2.1 percent of high schools provide daily physical education or its equivalent for the entire school year. Twenty-two percent of schools nationally do not require students to take any physical education at all.

In the District, the problem is more severe. Many of the 1,500 students DC SCORES serves attend schools that have a glaring lack of after-school sports opportunities. Some schools might offer open gym here and there, but very few provide anything as consistent as our program. If a child doesn’t have an opportunity to be active during school and his or her parents’ financial status eliminates the chances of paid athletics, the child is essentially cornered into unhealthy habits. In poorer neighborhoods, it is often not safe for elementary school youth to go outside and play. More than likely, parents are at work and local playgrounds are not well maintained if present at all.

DC SCORES participants get 270 minutes of exercise
each week through soccer practices and games. 

Fighting childhood obesity is ineffective if kids exercise one week but take the next week off. Consistency is crucial. Showing up for youth is paramount.

DC SCORES provides a trusted and proven system of trained coaches who guide students through a soccer curriculum, which includes health and nutrition lessons and readily usable soccer practice plans that incorporate team building and leadership activities in addition to daily physical activity. DC SCORES resembles a stepping stone for children to learn and maintain healthy lifestyles. Children join a school team in third grade and follow a pipeline through eighth grade. High school alumni stay involved with DC SCORES through volunteer refereeing and organized events such as our annual alumni soccer tournament.

Research shows that early childhood experiences set a child on a course toward or away from a healthy life, including in adulthood. Children who have good nutrition, adequate physical activity, and safe and stimulating environments, grow up to be healthier. Brain development suffers when children’s home lives are wracked by the stress of making ends meet; this stress has lifelong effects that impair personal health in many ways.

The beauty of DC SCORES’ model is it makes physical activity fun. Children aren’t thinking as they run up and down the soccer field, ‘Man, I hate having to exercise!’ Rather, they’re thinking about kicking the ball or spreading the field so their teammates will pass to them.

Kids learn to love the sport and, as a byproduct, being fit and being able to keep up with their teammates.

We just finished a blog series on program alumni beginning college this fall (the last post on Claudia Merlos is a must-read). While Claudia is the only student we interviewed who is playing college soccer, all the young adults said they still play the game as much as they can for fun. That enjoyment of fitness through the sport was instilled during their DC SCORES years.

Furthermore, if you take in a high school soccer game in the District this fall, you will be watching dozens of program alumni on the field. The pipeline is long, and it’s resulted is healthier youth who learned the importance of taking care of themselves -- in a fun way -- through DC SCORES.

To learn more about DC SCORES’ impact on kids’ physical fitness, visit the Program Outcomes page of our website.

Childhood obesity: The crux of a very serious and expensive problem

Data through 2006 (source: CDC).

Throughout September, DC SCORES is focusing on National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month -- the problem and numbers both locally and nationally, and what we, other organizations, foundations, and school districts are doing to combat it. We'll have more blog posts, daily Tweets, Facebook posts and LinkedIn updates during the month. We encourage you to join the conversation.

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$14 billion is the estimated annual direct cost of childhood obesity in the United States. The indirect costs are extreme, too, even if an amount can’t be pinned to them.

Think about that for a minute.

Why so costly?

Because individuals who are obese open themselves to a list of illnesses including but not limited to high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and cancer.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), direct medical costs include preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services related to obesity. Indirect costs relate to morbidity and mortality costs, such as the value of income lost from decreased productivity or premature death.

Also from the CDC: 31 percent of the same age group are classified as overweight (scary) or obese (headed toward serious health issues). Read the full summary in “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s future.”

Simply put, right now we are dealing with a crisis and things will not look brighter in the future unless we change today, providing kids starting at a young age with a path toward good health. Otherwise, as is commonly known, obese children are likely to become overweight or obese adolescents … and then adults.

This blog post, though, isn’t to state the solution. We’ll do that later during National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Here, we aim, simply, to lay out the factors and present how dire and critical the situation is.

Obesity projection for DC (source: F as in Fat)

Over the next 20 years — according to F as in Fat — in just the District of Columbia, obesity could contribute to 57,758 new cases of type 2 diabetes, 131,194 new cases of coronary heart disease and stroke, 135,891 new cases of hypertension, 92,032 new cases of arthritis, and 20,320 new cases of obesity-related cancer.

While plenty of affluent people are obese, it can’t be denied that a neighborhood’s financial standing and makeup has a lot to do with its obesity rate.

Nearly one fifth of all Americans — about 52 million people — live in poor neighborhoods (i.e., neighborhoods in which at least 20 percent of residents are poor). The percentage of individuals living in poor neighborhoods varies considerably across states from a low of 2 percent in New Hampshire to a high of 42 percent in Louisiana, Mississippi and Washington D.C.

Living near a supermarket has been linked with a healthier population, while living closer to small convenience stores has been linked with higher rates of obesity and smoking. While improvements have been made, many poor neighborhoods are located in “food deserts” where affordable healthy food is hard to find and/or get to by public transportation.

Similarly, people are more likely to be physically active and healthier when they live in neighborhoods that have parks, bike lanes, walking or jogging trails, and less litter, vandalism, and graffiti. Poor neighborhoods tend to have less of the former and more of the latter.

About 22.4 percent of African-American children and 24.2 percent of Mexican-American children ages 6 to 17 are obese, compared to 17.5 percent of white children.

But it’s worth noting — and encouraging — that improved school nutritional standards are being implemented, according to a new package of research materials released by Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children.

By 2050, 35 percent of young people in the U.S. will be Latino, so providing healthier school snacks and drinks — in addition, of course, to daily physical activity — can and will help in the struggle to for generations to come of healthy Latinos.

The problem is a big one. And a costly one. But in the past couple years, studies have shown slight signs of reversing the trend. And even in areas like the District where the numbers can depress, there is time and resources to make positive changes.

Stay tuned later in the month as we detail how DC SCORES and others are teaming up to fight this monster.

National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month: Let's focus on the solutions

Throughout September, DC SCORES is focusing on National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month -- the problem and numbers both locally and nationally, and what we, other organizations, foundations, and school districts are doing to combat it. We'll have more blog posts, daily Tweets, Facebook posts and LinkedIn updates throughout September. We encourage you to join the conversation. 

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Written by Amy Nakamoto
Executive Director

Here is what we know as common sense — to be productive and active thinkers and contributors (to work, to school, to society), it helps dramatically if we take care of ourselves and are healthy.

Here is what we know about kids — they need to move. Oxygen feeds young brains, gets energy out in the right ways, helps them focus, and importantly, sets the stage for a lifetime of moving, exercising, and seeking out other fitness- or sport-related things.

September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month — a month dedicated to highlighting the trend, but more importantly, the solution to reversing the trend. I will not turn this blog into a dissertation on the topic, but we will spend the month highlighting through our blog and other social media channels the national and local trends, resources and recommendations. And, what DC SCORES is doing to help over 1,450 kids with our after-school program.

We know that obese children and adolescents have a greater risk of social and psychological problems, such as discrimination and poor self-esteem, which can continue into adulthood. We also know that by 2030, obesity-related health care costs in the District of Columbia could climb by 18.8 percent, which could be the 15th highest increase in the country.

This list can go on and on . . . and frankly, it’s frightening — and wrong. Our young people deserve better. Childhood obesity rates are much higher for low-income, non-white youth living in urban centers. This is true in DC.

Please tune into DC SCORES’ blog this month for a series on this topic, and also make sure you are aware of the governing law in DC to combat this, the Healthy Schools Act.

I will leave you with this statistic for now … If BMIs were lowered by 5 percent, the District of Columbia could save 6.7 percent in health care costs, which would equate to savings of $1,026,000,000 by 2030 — it’s mathematically detailed here.

More to come…

Amy Nakamoto
Executive Director, DC SCORES
Member of the Mayor’s Healthy Youth and Schools Commission

Tackling childhood obesity -- a fight we must all engage in

 

Written by Amy Nakamoto 
Executive Director  

As the fall months march on and we continue to embark on a season full of emotionally expressive poetry and spoken word and game days filled with laughter and community members, we can’t let up the brakes on our larger mission here at DC SCORES.

We aim to instill self-expression, physical fitness, and a sense of community within and amongst our participants citywide. The month of September marked the third annual National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. While it feels odd to have a month be named for a devastating social, ecological, and health trend in our country, it is important to acknowledge the multi-layered issue in its entirety and take pause of where we all play a role in this issue.

At DC SCORES, we feel it’s our duty to instill a love of sports, movement, and activity in our students’ lives. We choose the game of soccer to do this, and support soccer instruction with on-and-off-field nutrition and health games.

It is having an impact.

After one year of participating in DC SCORES, students can run longer and have either maintained or reduced their BMI (body mass index) levels. Providing at least 220 minutes of physical activity per week through our after-school program is making a necessary difference.

Childhood obesity is not only about getting healthy and having our young people on the right track ... it is about:

• National security
• Education
• Nutrition
• The economy
• Mental health
• And much more

The cost of NOT being more aware of the intricacies and web of solutions to reverse the obesity trend would be damaging to our young people, but also to the very well-being of all of us as a nation.

Please get informed, engage in the conversation, and if you, like us, feel that physical fitness and activity should be a right afforded to every child – come see and hang out with our kids daily as a show of support . . .

Here are a couple sites you should check out to get informed:

• http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/
• http://fitness.gov/resource-center/facts-and-statistics/

With National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month nearing, emphasis on fun exercise is critical

Photo by Scott Julian

With the third annual National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month just 11 days away, it is critical now -- as much as ever -- to shine the brightest light possible on solutions to a crisis that continues to deepen in this country.

By now, you probably know how dire the situation is. I could ring off dozens of depressing statistics, but a few should do the trick:

• More than 23 million children and teenagers are obese/overweight
• Nearly 1 in 3 children are at risk of Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and even stroke (problems usually only found in adults)
• In DC, the obesity rate in Ward 8 is nearly 50%!

Sold?

During September -- and, really, throughout the year to a lesser extent -- the mainstream focus will be on what we're feeding children. In schools. At home. Wherever. 

This is important, but far from the lone solution.

The overlooked aspect is what DC SCORES does very well -- provide a fun mode of physical activity for children.

We can feed kids all the vegetables, fruits, whole grains and healthy foods we want, but if they don't exercise, they won't be healthy. That's a fact. 

Last month, I got the chance to visit DC SCORES' Soccer & Arts camp at Marie Reed Elementary School. What struck me about the camp -- besides the awesome Bachata dance performance -- was how many alumni, now high school students, were working as counselors or were there just to help out. And they were all playing soccer with the kids, too -- boys, girls, Latinos, African-Americans, everybody.

How is this related to fighting childhood obesity?

Photo by Scott Julian

It's important because it demonstrates a long-term, lasting impact on children's well-being. When students join DC SCORES, many of them have never played soccer before -- or at least not on a team. By the time they graduate from our program, some after elementary school and many after middle school, they have an ingrained love of the game and want to keep playing. Some go on to play for high school and club teams. Others aren't quite at that level, but continue to play in recreational games and at our alumni events. 

Without consciously thinking, 'I need to get exercise to be healthy,' kids who go through our program are getting the exercise they need through soccer because it's fun and because they enjoy being on a team. 

DC SCORES' curriculum also teaches nutrition, and we have a scaled-down winter program, the USDA's Power of Choice, that uses hands-on cooking lessons to show students how to prepare and eat healthy food.

But think on this for a moment:

What were you eating as a teenager, let alone a middle school student? What were you craving? Yep, I have to admit it -- I went to McDonald's, I loved fried food. 

The bottom line is that kids, when given the choice, aren't always going to pick the fruit over the bag of potato chips. We can teach them nutrition, but it will take time and maturity for them to make real changes in their eating habits. 

What we can really effect are their exercise habits. Give them an outlet for fun, consistent exercise. Provide them with an activity that they will grow to love and continue to come back to after they're out of our control. 

That, ultimately, will lead to more healthy teenagers who mature into adults making smart decisions about what they put in their bodies. 

Learn more about National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and find resources to help your community on the month's home page.