To Your Health:

Promoting Healthy Weight in Texas

By Nancy DiMarco, Ph.D.

I know I told my readers that I would be covering herbs these next few columns, but the topic of obesity has again become the most important health topic in Texas and the United States.

A little over two and a half years ago, the Texas Department of Health received a three-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a statewide nutrition and physical activity program with the express purpose of prevention of obesity and related lifestyle diseases. The grant funds a taskforce with members representing diverse health organizations and health professions across Texas.

Two weeks ago, I attended a conference in San Antonio to unveil the Strategic Plan for Obesity Prevention in Texas. William Klish, MD, a pediatrician at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, chaired the Taskforce.

The upshot of the San Antonio meeting to me concerned the dramatic increase in obesity rates in Texas among Hispanic and African-American children and the corresponding increases in Type 2, or non-insulin dependent, diabetes.
Currently 20 percent of all children in the state are considered obese. Five percent of these children are already developing symptoms of diabetes -- something rarely seen two decades ago.

If diabetes is developed before age 15, these children can expect to have their life span decreased by 27 years. If the child develops the disease between 15 and 19 years of age, the reduction is 23 years. Dr. Klish stated that he has witnessed sudden death due to obesity in children as young as 6 years of age.

"If nothing is done to stop this epidemic of obesity, children of this generation, on average, are unlikely to live as long as their parents," Dr Klish said.

This is the first time since health statistics have been kept that this phenomena could happen.

Let’s review some facts.

Among Texas adults, 61 percent are overweight or obese. Even though the American public realizes that there is an increase in the number of individuals considered to be overweight or obese, a national survey conducted by the American Heart Association in 2000 found that only 28 percent of adults correctly identified obesity as a risk factor associated with heart disease and heart attacks.

In addition, in 2002, The American Institute for Cancer Research conducted a poll of 1,025 people and showed that only 25 percent of them knew about the link between obesity and cancer.

Judith Stern, one of the nation’s leading researchers on obesity, reported at the American Obesity Association in 2000 that among 1,000 parents surveyed, only 5 percent correctly identified obesity as the greatest long-term threat to the health of their children. However, 30 percent of those surveyed were concerned about their children’s weight.
The Strategic Plan for Obesity Prevention in Texas is non-specific to allow individual agencies to implement the objectives in a manner that fits the needs of distinctive communities. We learned that what works best in El Paso might not work in rural Denton County.

However, the vision, mission, goals and objectives of the Strategic Plan are straightforward and simple:

1 Vision: All Texans have a healthy weight through physical activity and healthful eating.

2 Mission: To reduce the burden of weight-related disease by decreasing the prevalence of obesity.

3 Goal 1: Increase awareness of obesity as a public health issue that impacts the quality of life of families.

• Objective 1: Identify, develop and disseminate messages and materials regarding obesity and its impact on quality of life.

4 Goal 2: Mobilize families, schools and communities to create opportunities to choose lifestyles that promote healthy weight.

• Objective 1: Identify and evaluate existing plans and activities that promote healthful eating and physical activity.
• Objective 2: Develop, implement and evaluate new plans and activities that promote healthful eating habits and physical activity.

5 Goals 3: Promote policies and environmental changes that support healthful eating habits and physical activity.

• Objective 1: Increase advocacy for initiatives and policies that support healthful eating habits and physical activity.

6 Goal 4: Monitor obesity rates and related behaviors and health conditions for planning, evaluation and dissemination activities.

• Objective 1: Create a system for data collection, monitoring and reporting activities.
• Objective 2: Implement data-management systems that assure quality and consistent data.

So there you have it. Very worthy goals and objectives to turn this tide.

Dr. Nancy DiMarco is a research professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, the nutrition coordinator for the Institute for Women's Health and coordinator of the master's program in Exercise and Sports Nutrition at Texas Woman's University. She can be reached at ndimarco@twu.edu.

For Further Information Contact:

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Tel: (940) 898-3456
e-mail: rkron@twu.edu