Pounds add up

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

by Andrea Schoellkopf

Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer

One in three Albuquerque Public Schools students is either overweight or obese — "which is kind of scary," according to the district's wellness manager.  And children across the state are getting obese — not just overweight — at earlier ages, according to a recent report by the state Department of Health.

That report, and data from APS, show the early rise in obesity levels is contradicting the historical notion that obesity happens at later ages.  In Albuquerque, the schools with the highest obesity levels are also showing the lowest academic proficiency levels, both of which appear to be tied to income levels. "You can really see it across the county, the difference," said Jennie McCary, APS' wellness manager. "It's pretty obvious there are a higher proportion of overweight or obese clusterings in areas that are poor."

This month, APS launched "Get in the Action," aimed at improving student health and raising awareness of physical activity and nutrition. The district is asking schools to find one or two programs they can try each month.

McCary said the overweight/obese trend increases with age, peaking at about 38 percent of fifth graders and staying high in eighth grade, she said.

The Giron family had been on such a track — with overweight and obese relatives on both sides, cousins having gastric bypass surgeries and children getting heavier — until their kids started an exercise program at Mission Avenue Elementary. Previously, the boys would spend four or five hours a day in front of video games or television.  "It's changed our whole way of thinking," said Adam Giron, who has lost 10 pounds, wears a pedometer and coaches his third-grade son's basketball team.

His wife, Alison Giron, changed meals to healthier options, and cookies and potato chips are eaten in moderation, rather than in an unlimited supply.

The kids must play outside for 45 minutes a day, and the family ends each day with a neighborhood walk with their first-grade son, who has epilepsy. Giron said that while the boys have not really lost weight, they have improved their muscle tone and are more physically fit. Even the grandparents have gotten in on the act and are exercising more and replacing soda with water.

"We're not really losing weight," Giron said. "We're starting to think healthy."

Early intervention

School nurses measure and weigh about 25,000 children a year in kindergarten, third, fifth and eighth grades to determine Body Mass Index (BMI), a comparison of height and weight, as a factor for obesity. The district had been collecting the data for individual student health records for decades but had not compiled it, McCrary said.

APS officials, using data for a state Health Department on overweight and obesity, looked at which students needed the most attention. "We know we need to intervene early," said Thomas Scharmen, a Health Department epidemiologist who worked with APS data. "We need to work with families ... that's the hard part, is to get the families involved. We can't really dictate."

Nationally, attention has been focused on childhood obesity through the efforts of first lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative. The effort focuses on healthy eating as well as an active lifestyle. APS' program involves a "day of simultaneous movement" on May 4, when all schools will be asked to schedule physical activity at the same time of day. "We wanted to start with a simple message around moving more," McCary said, adding that nutrition would continue to be a part of that message.

McCary said she's seen a startling rise in the student diabetes rate. More than 40 middle and high school students have type 2 diabetes, which is related to obesity. When she started 15 years ago, there were none with type 2, then called adult-onset diabetes.

Statewide, 13.2 percent of kindergartners and 22.6 percent of third grade students are obese. That is far beyond the national rate of 19.5 percent for the age group of 6-11 years old.

The state report also found:

• The average weight of a healthy third-grader was 60.7 pounds, compared with an obese third-grader average weight of 98.9 pounds, with some reporting weights between 150 and 200 pounds.

• Nearly twice as many third-graders are classified as obese as kindergartners, a rapid growth contradicting the traditional assumption that most obesity occurs at ages far older than third grade.

• Native American children are three times more likely to be obese than Anglo children and twice as likely as Hispanic children.

The next phase of the state study will look at the Body Mass Index and compare it with after-school programs, amount of physical education offered in each school and policies regarding nutrition.

An overweight student is one whose BMI is greater than 85 percent of his peers, while the measure of obesity is higher than 95 percent.

Scharmen said no one can explain the close correlation between neighborhood income levels and obesity rates. "It may be other things, maybe less sports teams, less opportunities for getting out and being active, and maybe less opportunities for healthy eating," he said.