Prevention is considered a hallmark in medicine. From the moment we are born, parents take responsibility for their child with newborn screenings, immunizations, car safety seats, even bike helmets. In a nation that has an obesity epidemic on its hands, there is no better place to start teaching good eating and exercise habits than in childhood. On January 25, a Childhood Obesity Summit was held in Iowa City.
Jody Murph, MD, pediatrician at University of Iowa Children's Hospital, talks about the summit:
What defines obesity in children?
First of all, most adults know that obesity for an adult is defined by BMI—body mass index—which uses a person's height and weight to calculate a number that's a fairly reliable indicator of body fatness. We know that adults who have a BMI between 25 and 29.9 are considered overweight. If they have a BMI of 30 or greater, they're considered obese.
For children, we also use BMI, but because adiposity, your body fatness, varies normally with age and gender during childhood and adolescent, the BMI must be age and gender specific. So we actually plot BMI on a growth curve that's specific for male or female and by age. For children between the ages of 2 and 18 years, if they have a BMI that is greater than the 85th percentile, but less than the 95th percentile for age and gender; those children are considered overweight. If they have a BMI that's greater than the 95th percentile for age and weight, then they're considered obese.
Has obesity in children been on the rise in Iowa?
Obesity is an epidemic across America, including Iowa. The number of obese adults in Iowa has increased by 36 percent over the past 10 years, so that in 2006, 1.4 million Iowans were overweight. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents doubled in the last two decades, so that now, one in three children and adolescents are overweight or obese. Even preschoolers and children under the age of 5 have had a significant increase in obesity and overweight. In 2005, the Iowa Department of Public Health measured the height and weight of about 4,000 third, fourth, and fifth grade students across the state, and nearly 20 percent of those children were overweight and more than 18 percent were obese. So indeed, Iowa has a problem.
What reasons are given for the increase in obesity in children to epidemic levels?
We know that children today are, as a group, less physically active than previous generations. They often eat a very high fat, high calorie diet, including frequent meals of fast foods that are often super-sized.They frequently consume high sugar beverages that are also super-sized, and they spend a lot more time in front of a TV or video screen.
What was the purpose of the January 25 summit?
We know that the best solution to the obesity epidemic is prevention. We know that obese children become obese adults with all of the associated health-related problems, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease. And we know that obesity is expensive. Annually, in the United States, overweight and obesity costs about $92 billion in medical expenses. In Iowa, adult obesity alone is estimated to incur health care costs of about $783 million every year.
The Childhood Obesity Summit grew out of a collaborative project involving the University of Iowa Children's Hospital and the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County. It was made possible by a Kohl's Cares for Kids grant. This project was designed to prevent obesity, beginning with the preschool aged children. It's been clear from the beginning that obesity prevention involves not just the child, but the family, the neighborhood, and the entire community. So we called this summit A Road Map for Change.
It was a means for the community—for Johnson County—to bring together people who represent the medical community, urban and regional planning—or the builing community, because children need sidewalks, bike paths, and safe neighborhoods in order to be physically active. We also had representatives from schools, from local businesses, someone from the Neighborhood Centers to talk about healthy menus for children. Sen. Joe Bolkom was there because health and wellness involves public policy. As part of the summit, we formed working groups that will develop an action plan for Johnson County to help to counter the current obesity epidemic by trying to address all of those community components that play a role.
Who attended this summit?
We welcomed everyone: physicians, public health personnel, school personnel, child care providers, city employees, business owners, parents. We all have a stake in healthy children and a healthier community.
What did attendees learn at the summit?
They learned about why we're experiencing this epidemic of obesity and some of the measures that they can take personally or that the community can take to turn this around. |
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Jody Murph, MD
University of Iowa Children's Hospital
Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County
Kohl's Cares for Kids
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