Grants back effort to put obese kids on healthier path

It has become a common trend: kids watch too much TV, engage in less physical activity, and eat too much fast food. Specialists say such behaviors have led to high rates of childhood obesity across the nation.

Now, a number of area communities are starting comprehensive programs to tackle the problem.

The MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation has provided $20,000 grants to several communities - including Framingham, Natick, Northborough, and Franklin - to develop programs that encourage young people to eat healthy foods and get more exercise.

Martin Cohen, the foundation's president, said the Framingham-based organization has been working to combat childhood obesity for several years but is hoping the grants will spur local organizations to become more involved.

"What we found was missing was at a community level, a comprehensive community strategy," he said.

In Framingham, the initiative will be modeled after a Somerville program that healthcare workers say has been successful in reducing rates of childhood obesity. Framingham's effort will take a multipronged approach, involving schools, healthcare facilities, and town departments, and will begin with a planning meeting Oct. 28.

Kitty Mahoney, a nurse with the Framingham Board of Health, said the effort is the first step toward implementing changes that could include the labeling of foods in restaurants, reducing busing to schools to promote exercise, and offering healthier foods in schools. But she also noted Framingham is a diverse community, and the initiative will tackle the problem in a culturally sensitive way. Framingham schools are already involved in programs aimed at reducing childhood obesity.

The Natick school system received two grants from the foundation. One designates $12,410 for a 12-week program that will allow 12 to 16 students to receive guidance from a personal trainer and nutritionist, said Karen Rufo, nurse leader for the school system.

"I'm hoping the grant at the high school will enable kids to feel better about themselves and get in a more physically fit situation," Rufo said. "They'll see how what they eat affects their body."

Although the grant will help only a small group of students, Rufo said, she hopes the program's message will reach many of their peers.

Natick's second grant, for $25,000, supports nutrition and fitness programs at Wilson Middle School.

In Northborough, local officials will use a foundation grant to study the town's environment, school health, food, recreation, and after-school activities.

"We were very pleased to be able to get it," said Jamie Terry, Northborough's health agent. "This is considered an up-and-coming study that each town in Massachusetts is going to be encouraged to do."

Once the study is completed, officials hope to apply for another grant from the foundation to implement a recommendation from the effort, Terry said.

Other communities that received grants from the foundation or had an agency receive a grant include Millis, Milford, Marlborough, and Medway. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, the prevalence of obesity among children ages 6 to 11 has risen from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 17 percent in 2006.

Childhood obesity became a national concern about five years ago, though pediatricians had been seeing the problem in patients before then, said Julie Meyers, a member of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and chairwoman of its obesity committee. She said she was excited to see communities begin dealing with the problem.

Somerville started its communitywide initiative in 2002, after Tufts University professor Christina Economos suggested a three-year research project on childhood obesity covering the first through third grades, said Nicole Rioles, coordinator for Shape Up Somerville.

"Her first-year results have been published and show that first-, second-, and third-graders are gaining weight at a slower rate," Rioles said.

The city has revitalized and opened 20 parks over the past four years, and has almost finished building a bicycle and walking path that stretches from Davis Square to Boston, Rioles said. And the schools have doubled the amount spent annually on locally produced food.

Newton-Wellesley Hospital runs a weight-management program for adolescents and young adults that covers ages 12 to 25. The program includes an assessment of what is causing the obesity and recommendations for treatment, which could include nutritional counseling, weight-loss medications, and, in a few cases, weight-loss surgery, said Jennifer Rosenblum, the hospital's director of weight management. The program accepts new patients every week and typically remains in contact with them until they drop out or reach the age limit, Rosenblum said.

"Obesity needs continued management just like any chronic illness where you would check in with your physician," she said. "What we don't want to say is, 'OK, you've finished this program, go out and do it on your own.' "

The hospital is also planning to restart Kids on the Move within a few months. The eight-week program is for youths between 6 and 16 years old who are under a physician's care for obesity. The program, which was suspended when its coordinator went on maternity leave, involves the patient and their parents in exercises, health and nutrition education, and behavior modification.

Framingham officials have been talking about the obesity problem for a number of years, said Selectwoman Ginger Esty, the board's vice chairwoman.

"We've opened the door," Esty said. "This is a start and we hope that this will be recognized as a need and have measurable success."

Both Framingham and Somerville have diverse populations that might show higher rates of childhood obesity due to cultural factors and socioeconomic status, say healthcare specialists. Milagros Abreu, a researcher with the Boston University School of Public Health, said that some groups, such as Latinos, tend to have higher obesity rates.

"They should identify and keep our culture in mind," she said of the Framingham initiative. The federal government's "food pyramid," which outlines a healthy proportion of various food groups, she said, "does not reflect the Latino diet."

Framingham schools began addressing childhood obesity after noticing it becoming a problem, said Judy Styer, the district's director of school health services. One way to measure childhood obesity is by body mass index, or BMI, a number calculated from a child's weight and height. In the 2006-2007 school year, 36.5 percent of the student population was overweight or at risk of being overweight, Styer said.

"What we do see is a lot of high BMIs, and some of the indicators that the kids are on their way to diabetes," she said.

One school program, also funded by the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation, is Girls on the Move. The three-year-old initiative for grades 3 to 5 had a waiting list last year and this year, said Judy Wester, the program's coordinator and a nurse at the Miriam F. McCarthy School. The girls in the program walk at least a mile twice a week and engage in other physical activities.

But the focus of the town's initiative should not just be on children, said Karen McGrail, a nutrition instructor at Framingham State College and a parent of three children who attend Framingham schools.

McGrail, who sits on the district's Health Advisory Council, which includes parents and school staff, said parents also need help in addressing childhood obesity, and noted, "Resources to educate parents are important in the whole effort."

Globe correspondent Brian Benson contributed to this report.