Mission

The mission of the NC Healthy Weight Initiative is to shape the eating and physical activity patterns of North Carolina children and youth in ways that lead to healthy weight and reduce the risk for chronic disease. The NC Task Force for Healthy Weight in Children and Youth created a comprehensive state plan, Moving Our Children Toward a Healthy Weight - Finding the Will and the Way , that provides recommendations for action to address childhood overweight.

History

The NC Healthy Weight Initiative was established in October 2000 as an impetus to prevent overweight in children. Originally funded by an obesity prevention grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Initiative was housed within the Women's and Children's Health Section of the Division of Public Health. The NC Task Force for Healthy Weight in Children and Youth created a comprehensive state plan, Moving Our Children Toward a Healthy Weight - Finding the Will and the Way, to reduce and prevent childhood overweight. The plan (see sidebar at right) was developed by a 100-member Task Force, chaired by John B. Longenecker, PhD, Director of the University of North Carolina Institute of Nutrition.

NC Healthy Weight Initiative funding ended September 30, 2003. However, July 1, 2003, North Carolina received Capacity Funding for Nutrition and Physical Activity to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases. This funding, managed by the Physical Activity & Nutrition (PAN) Branch, supports programming throughout the NC Division of Public Health. The NC Healthy Weight Initiative continues to grow with funding and support from the CDC Obesity and Chronic Disease Prevention grant and its many internal and external partners.

Sherée Thaxton Vodicka, MA, RD, LDN coordinates Healthy Weight Communications in the PAN Branch. She can be reached at 919-715-1928 or at sheree.thaxton.

General Facts on Childhood Overweight

The percentage of children who are overweight in the United States doubled during the past two decades and the percentage among adolescents tripled. Data from the 2004 North Carolina Nutrition and Physical Activity Surveillance System (NC-NPASS) show an even greater increase in our state; however, there are early signs that the rate of increase may be slowing. Still, childhood overweight remains an epidemic in North Carolina affecting:

• More than one in four (27.2%) youth 12 to 18 years of age,
• More than one in five (23.8%) children 5 to 11 years, and
• One in eight (14.9%) preschool children 2 to 4 years of age.

Are certain groups at higher risk?

It is clear from NC-NPASS data that substantial proportions of children and youth of all races, ethnicities, and both genders are overweight and at-risk for overweight, but there are some differences among groups in North Carolina:

• Among 2 to 4 year-olds and 5 to 11 year olds, Asian/Pacific Islanders have the highest prevalence of overweight.
• Young Hispanic children have a higher prevalence of overweight than non-Hispanic children of the same age; however, by adolescence, the rates are higher among non-Hispanic than Hispanic teens.
• More adolescent African American girls are overweight than boys; however in Whites, American Indian and Asian/Pacific Islanders, adolescent boys are more likely to be overweight than girls.

In Young Black Girls, Safety Concerns, Lack of Recreation Options Contribute to Weight Problems: Read a recent article about an overweight issue African-American girls are facing.

Why should we be concerned?

Most of us recognize that obesity in adults is a serious risk to health and well being. However, most of us do not realize that:

• Sixty percent of overweight children, 5-to-10-years-of-age, have at least one cardiovascular risk factor such as high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure or increased insulin level.
• Type 2 diabetes, formerly called adult-onset diabetes and seen primarily in middle age, is increasingly being diagnosed in children and young adults.
• Overweight adolescents have a 70 percent chance of becoming overweight or obese adults, with all of the associated health risks.
• Early maturation, orthopedic problems and sleep apnea also occur with increased frequency in overweight youth.
• Children and youth that are overweight or at-risk for overweight increasingly suffer from depression, anxiety and social angst.

While it is important to reduce the increased health risk placed on children by excessive weight, we must do so without jeopardizing their physical and emotional well being. Strategies to prevent or reduce overweight must be based on an understanding of and sensitivity to weight discrimination, social pressure for excessive slenderness and unsafe weight loss practices.

Get More Data at the Eat Smart, Move More...NC site.