Stop obesity before it starts

What a concept. Those Minnesotans are right on top of things.

Though many children and adolescents today maintain a healthy weight, public health officials are concerned about the ones who don’t.

“There are more overweight and obese children than ever before,” said Cheri Lewer, director of Waseca County Public Health. “The same factors affecting adults are affecting our children.”

Even as the rate of overweight and obese populations in the U.S. has roughly doubled in adults over the last 30 years, the rates have tripled or quadrupled in young people. The obesity rate in children aged 6 to 11 doubled during that time, and the rate of obesity in children aged 12 to 19 tripled. The numbers from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey reported the prevalence of obesity in these age groups between the periods of 1971 to 1974 and 1999 to 2002.

Minnesota mirrors those numbers, and Waseca County is no exception to the rule.

According to the Minnesota Student Survey, a voluntary survey given to students in the sixth, ninth and 12th grades in public schools, 13 percent of 12th grade males and and 5 percent of 12th grade females were obese in 2010, according to their body mass index. The rate of obesity in ninth grade students was 10 percent in males and 6 percent in females for the same year.

The better approach is to hold the parents, teachers and principals accountable for their roles in the nutritional child abuse.