Just about one out of three kids in Pleasant Hill are overweight or obese according to a study by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA) and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Researchers found that 32.1 percent of 5th, 7th and 9th graders in Pleasant Hill are overweight or obese.
The lowest obesity rate in Contra Costa County was found in Danville at 16.5 percent. The countywide average was 33.9 percent.
The statewide average obesity rate of the more than 250 cities studied was 38 percent.
Rates ranged from as low as 11 percent in affluent Manhattan Beach to 53 percent for Huntington Park, a factory town. Both are in Los Angeles County.
Study calls for government action
The study's authors detailed their methods and the ramifications of their findings, principally that overweight kids tend to grow into overweight adults with all the health problems associated therewith.
The findings are accompanied by nine policy recommendations, including:
- eliminating the sale of fatty foods and high calorie drinks on public facilties;
- establishing taxes on sugary drinks at the state and local levels to pay for the harmful effects of those products and remediate their effects;
- eliminating advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages to children and youth.
Where do you stand?
Do you consider youth obesity primarily a family problem or a community problem?
Would you put the primary responsibility on parents to cut back on junk foods and video games and promote healthier foods and exercise?
Or should the community play the leading role, all the way from promoting good food and exercise to imposing taxes and advertising restrictions?
Or do you favor a mixture of the above?
Leave a comment below and vote in our Poll.
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