FUSD sends obesity letters

Big deal.

A couple thousand Flagstaff parents will soon receive letters from the school district stating their elementary-school children are overweight or at risk of becoming so.

This is arguably the most serious step Flagstaff Unified School District has ever taken to counter obesity beyond the schoolhouse. It's happening because Flagstaff's medical community is warning of life-shortening consequences for part of a generation if nothing changes.

Although Coconino County's adults have the lowest rate of obesity in the state and the prevalence of adult obesity here is among the lowest in the country (17 percent as of 2007), the same does not seem to hold true for the community's children.

That's according to physicians and nurses here, who are reporting obesity-related diabetes in children as young as age 4.

"These are serious, serious problems going on inside of these children now, and we have to do drastic things to make them better," pediatrician Nina Souders told FUSD's board Tuesday.

This is an IMHO lawbreaker talking.

She is mandated to report these fat kids to the authorities.

In her practice at North Country HealthCare, Souders treats patients in their mid-20s who are on multiple medications for blood pressure and diabetes due to weight.

Some of these patients' children are on track to be worse off, she said, gaining weight younger and more irreversibly.

Income and time are partly to blame, Souders said, with family members working multiple jobs, going for inexpensive, nutrient-poor food that is quick to prepare, and taking whatever they can get from food assistance agencies.

This IMHO lawbreaker has no idea what is happening except to bitch and moan.

Idiot.

But there are some specific shortcomings: Body mass index measurements might say a muscular athlete or a tall African-American student is obese when one is not, or that an Asian student is of a healthy weight in some cases when the student weighs more than is healthy.

"It's not an exact science," said Marilyn Grudniewski, the district's top nurse.

BMI is clearly the best indicator of overweight/obesity.

The overwhelming majority of people with elevated BMIs are fat, not muscular.

And the BMI offers a road map to caloric intake for weight reduction.

This nurse is idiot number two in this article.