Is Your State Fighting the Obesity Crisis?

The growing obesity crisis has become one of the nation's top public-health concerns. Obesity has been escalating at an alarming rate in the U.S. and worldwide. Health experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warn that over two-thirds of the adult population is now overweight, and about half of those people are fully obese. Obesity has put a huge toll on the healthcare system. Experts have estimated that about 325,000 deaths in the U.S. per year are linked to obesity, which makes it the second most preventable cause of death behind smoking. Now the CDC has developed a state-based nutrition and physical activity program to combat the spread of obesity.

The CDC's Nutrition and Physical Activity Program to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases helps states develop and execute nutritional and physical activity programs. The interventions include supporting healthy weight through obesity prevention and control (balancing caloric intake and expenditure), increased physical activity, improved nutrition (eating more fruits and vegetables and increased breastfeeding), and reduced television time.

In 2006, 28 states were funded for capacity building and basic implementation. Twenty-one states are in the capacity-building stage of gathering data, building partnerships with health care professionals and community organizations, and creating statewide health plans, before implementing the nutritional and physical activity programs. The twenty-one capacity-building states include:

Arizona
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Iowa
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Michigan
Missouri
Montana
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Texas
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin

The remaining seven states are in the implementation stage of developing comprehensive obesity prevention plans through nutritional and physical activity programs. The state-wide interventions include school-based and community-based nutrition and physical activity programs, obesity prevention strategies in food assistance, health, education, and recreation programs, and training programs for health professionals. The seven basic implementation states include:

Colorado
Massachusetts
New York
North Carolina
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Washington

REFERENCES:
1. Overweight and Obesity: State-Based Programs, CDC, July 12, 2006:
http://www.cdc.gov/NCCDPHP/DNPA/obesity/state_programs/index.htm