New Analysis Calls for State and Federal Action to Track Childhood Obesity

And it is about time.

A report published today in the journal Health Affairs calls for increased body mass index surveillance as a tool to combat the childhood obesity epidemic and urges state and federal action to implement effective BMI surveillance systems nationwide. The paper was co-authored by Altarum Institute researchers Matt Longjohn and Amy Sheon, co-project directors of Altarum’s Childhood Obesity Prevention Mission Project, and by childhood obesity experts from Arkansas, California, and Illinois.
BMI – a measure derived from height and weight – is widely used to screen children for obesity.

Still, there are many problems with this proposal. Some examples:

1. They tap into the First Cow's (see image below) childhood obesity initiative which will certainly fail.

2 They do not start tracking when fat people get pregnant and present to their OBs, RNs, etc., so monitoring and interventions can be implemented sooner after the birth of a child at risk, reducing the catch-up distance and costs.

3. They speak of "targeting resources" without speaking of targeting payors for those resources, i.e., collecting funds from the fat parents and parents-to-be in order to pay for the rescue of their fat kids and/or the prevention of fat kids.

Still it is a start in the right direction.

Kudos.

The "First Fatty," America's weight loss/weight control expert: