HealthDay News reports that there is good news and bad news on the childhood obesity front in the US.
The bad news: one out of seven preschoolers from low-income families is considered to be clinically obese.
The good news (sort of): national levels of childhood obesity in this demographic seem to be leveling off.
The numbers are included in a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), entitled the “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.”
The reason for the stabilizing of the numbers seems to be that there have been numerous public information campaigns in low-income communities to encourage better eating habits and more regular exercise. However, not all of these efforts have been successful, with Native American children and Alaska Native children said to be at greater risk for obesity and the long-term health problems that obesity can create.
It’s interesting that as this story ran, the Philadelphia Inquirer had a piece over the weekend on federal and state efforts to improve poor communities’ access to healthy foods and full service supermarkets.
According to the story, “The secretaries of agriculture and commerce, as well as other federal officials, toured the Parkside ShopRite store, which opened in 2007 on 52d Street near Parkside Avenue (in West Philadelphia), and lauded it as an example of what community partnerships with government can accomplish.
“Adolfo Carrion, the director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, praised the Parkside ShopRite and the Fresh Food Financing Initiative, a state program that combines state and private money. He also noted the efforts of nonprofit organizations to build food markets across Pennsylvania.”
Jeff Brown, owner of the Parkside ShopRite, said that the unit “was designed in cooperation with the community, noting that the store offers locally grown produce and that it has a second meat department that has beef and chicken produced in accordance with Muslim religious standards.”
The bad news: one out of seven preschoolers from low-income families is considered to be clinically obese.
The good news (sort of): national levels of childhood obesity in this demographic seem to be leveling off.
The numbers are included in a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), entitled the “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.”
The reason for the stabilizing of the numbers seems to be that there have been numerous public information campaigns in low-income communities to encourage better eating habits and more regular exercise. However, not all of these efforts have been successful, with Native American children and Alaska Native children said to be at greater risk for obesity and the long-term health problems that obesity can create.
It’s interesting that as this story ran, the Philadelphia Inquirer had a piece over the weekend on federal and state efforts to improve poor communities’ access to healthy foods and full service supermarkets.
According to the story, “The secretaries of agriculture and commerce, as well as other federal officials, toured the Parkside ShopRite store, which opened in 2007 on 52d Street near Parkside Avenue (in West Philadelphia), and lauded it as an example of what community partnerships with government can accomplish.
“Adolfo Carrion, the director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, praised the Parkside ShopRite and the Fresh Food Financing Initiative, a state program that combines state and private money. He also noted the efforts of nonprofit organizations to build food markets across Pennsylvania.”
Jeff Brown, owner of the Parkside ShopRite, said that the unit “was designed in cooperation with the community, noting that the store offers locally grown produce and that it has a second meat department that has beef and chicken produced in accordance with Muslim religious standards.”
- KC's View:
- Good for ShopRite…the only way to fight and win this battle is to do so at the front lines.
