Green Bay joins nationwide effort to promote exercise, fight childhood obesity

The Green Bay area is pumping up efforts to fight childhood obesity and promote exercise, mirroring a national movement toward trying to raise fit kids.

No longer an isolated program here or fitness class there, officials and grassroots organizers in our community — like many nationwide — are intensifying their push to get kids healthy.

Their efforts got another boost this week, when first lady Michelle Obama unveiled an action plan for her childhood obesity task force. Closer to home, schools, doctors and a host of community organizations are working together in the fight.

Experts say the time to act is now, as sedentary lifestyles, poor nutrition and other factors lead to increased health issues among obese youth.

"We are seeing a definite trend in diabetes — the numbers are escalating at a very alarming rate," said Dr. James Gast, family practice physician with Bellin Health, "diabetes being diagnosed at a young age, the risk of heart disease … high blood pressure (is) being diagnosed routinely in high school-aged kids."

Eleven percent of Wisconsin high school students were obese in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics were available, according to the statewide Youth Risk Behavior Survey. More than 60 percent did not meet recommended levels of physical activity, and almost half did not attend physical education classes.

The survey also showed poor nutritional habits, including not getting enough fruits and vegetables — more than 80 percent of students — and daily soda consumption — a quarter of respondents.
A community approach

Local experts say nutrition and physical activity are two of the key factors in fighting childhood obesity. But they're also taking a more broad-based view of the issue, examining everything from genetics to environmental and psychological factors.

"We're trying to understand that, for example, in our world … a child having a pediatrician and getting all their immunizations and doing all that stuff right, is nowhere near what's needed to really move the scale," said Pete Knox, executive vice president, Bellin Health, "and that so much of what needs to be approached and dealt with lies outside of really any one entity, and it really is the emergence of the community, or combining resources, to achieve our goal."

Bellin is working with the Green Bay Press-Gazette and other agencies on a proposed initiative called "Greater Green Bay: Where Kids Count," as part of the paper's Think Bold initiative. The communitywide initiative will focus on the needs of children, starting with raising healthy kids, for the next 18 months.

Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 20 percent of children ages 6 to 11 years were obese in 2008, up from 6.5 percent in 1980. The prevalence of obesity among adolescents ages 12 to 19 increased from 5 percent to more than 18 percent in the same timeframe.