Top health official pledges action on childhood obesity

Childhood obesity is too pervasive and pressing a problem to attack with piecemeal approaches, the state's top health official said today, vowing to fuse the best ideas of academic and public policy experts with experiments being played out in cities and towns across Massachusetts.

"It can't be addressed as a health issue alone. We have to think big," John Auerbach, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, told a Massachusetts Health Policy Forum meeting this morning. "We pledge that within a year we will come up with a proposal for a statewide plan that will complement all these activities and knit them together."

Almost a third of children in Massachusetts are overweight or obese, and among poor or Hispanic children, the rate rises to 45 percent, Tufts University researcher Jennifer Sacheck told the group, citing a paper prepared for today's event. Only four other states have larger disparities between Hispanic and non-Hispanic children.

Children aren't eating enough nutritious foods -- only 15 percent consume the ideal five servings of fruits or vegetables and three servings of dairy each day. Less than half get the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day and 10 percent say they do no form of exercise, according to state surveys.

At school, only 8 percent have physical education classes every day and after school, high schoolers say they spend more than three hours of "screen time," watching TV or using a computer.

Poor nutrition and little exercise have serious consequences -- higher rates of type 2 diabetes, and medical costs that average $200 a year more for overweight children than those of healthy weight. Preliminary data show better performance on MCAS exams, the statewide math and reading tests, among students who are physically active, Sacheck said.

Schools aren't the only influence on nutrition and activity; where children live and how much money their families have affect whether they can buy fresh food, walk to school, or play safely outside. A program called Shape-Up Somerville: Eat Smart, Play Hard worked with Tufts and city officials to bring schools, businesses, and other community members together to promote healthy diets and lifestyles. After a year, children participating in the program gained less weight than similar children in other communities.

To get there, the city spent $5 million to renovate parks and improve roads. Other changes came by persuasion: Restaurants were asked to offer half-portions and drivers crossing into bike paths were pulled over by police, for example. Schoolchildren squeezed oranges and shucked corn to learn about fresh versus processed food.

"At the end of the day, this is about individual social change," Joseph A. Curtatone, mayor of Somerville, said about the project. "It's not so much eliminating junk food but offering better choices."

At the end of the forum, which also included descriptions of other local initiatives, Auerbach made a promise to Curtatone.

"I pledge to work with you and replicate your valuable experience in Somerville in other ways," he said.