Tackling Adolescent Obesity through Schools

1. Tackling adolescent obesity
Kim, Isabelle, Mara

2. Significance to child/adolescent development
● High blood pressure and cholesterol
which are risk factors for
cardiovascular disease
● Increased risk of Type 2 Diabetes
● Joint and musculoskeletal problems
● Liver problems (fatty liver)
● Social and psychological problems

3. Audience
● We are looking at targeting 12 to 19 year old adolescents
through school personnel.
● Whilst the percentage of obesity has decreased from 11.1% in
2007-2010 to 8.9% in 2011-2014 in 2-5 year olds and 18.8% to
17.5% in 5-11 year olds, it has increased from 18.2% in
2007-2010 to 20.5% in 2011-2014 in 12-10 year olds.
● We will target school personnel because:
○ Over 95% of young people are enrolled in schools
○ Research has shown that well-designed, well-implemented school programs
can effectively promote physical activity, healthy eating, and reductions in
television viewing time.

4. Major Factors that We are Targeting and Why
● Prominent contributing factors to child obesity
○ More time spent watching TV, playing video games and using computers
○ Less likelihood of walking to school; more likely to take busses or be
driven in cars
○ More consumption of calorie dense, convenient food and soda
● The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) is a
nationally representative sample of US children who were measured and
weighed between 1971 and 2002.
○ The study shows that obesity rates spiked between 1980 and 1988
○ This time period is attributed to changes in children’s lifestyles including
diet, physical activity and screen time

5. What are we asking our audience to change/address?
23 1/2 Hours Video
● Physical Education: The general recommendation is at least 30 minutes of
physical activity/day (1 hour is even better!) for improving health outcomes
○ Incredibly, many people in the U.S. are not meeting these requirements
○ 30 min/day can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, decrease hypertension, and
improve fasting plasma glucose levels (related to metabolic diseases like diabetes)
○ research has found that people who are active and overweight are better significantly better off
than people who are at an average weight, but not active
● Changes to diet
○ Cutting down on sugary drinks and desserts being served in schools
○ Teach dietary information (like MyPlate) through worksheets and hands-on activities

6. Future--Next Steps
● Have researchers test and monitor weight gain in school meals that have
been deemed to be “healthy”
○ Monitor what the children are actually consuming
● Evaluate the effectiveness of pharmacological treatments on dietary and
activity interventions to see how much (or little) improvement they provide in
addition
● Find better ways to translate messages from researchers to school officials
and nurses (who then provide information to parents and children)
○ What is the best way to pass the information along without much misinterpretation

7. References
Anderson, P. M., & Butcher, K. F. (2006). Childhood obesity: trends and potential causes. The Future of children, 19-45.
Nemet, D., Barkan, S., Epstein, Y., Friedland, O., Kowen, G., & Eliakim, A. (2005). Short- and long-term beneficial effects of
a combined dietary-behavioral-physical activity intervention for the treatment of childhood obesity. Pediatrics, 115(4),
e443-e449. doi:10.1542/peds.2004-2172
UC San Diego Health. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2017, from
https://health.ucsd.edu/specialties/surgery/bariatric/weight-loss-surgery/adolescent-weight-loss/Pages/health-risks.aspx
Wechsler, H., McKenna, M. L., Lee, S. M., & Dietz, W. H. (2004). The role of schools in preventing childhood obesity. The
State Education Standard, 1-9. Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/physicalactivity/pdf/roleofschools_obesity.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2015/059.pdf
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/research/reports/2007-child-obesity#research