Schools

Poll: Four In Ten San Leandro Kids Are Fat. What Should We Do?

What do we do about the fact that 42.7 percent of our 5th, 7th and 9th graders are overweight or obese. What should families do? What should government do?

 

More than four out of 10 kids in San Leandro are overweight or obese according to a study that says our city has the chubbiest teen and tween population in Alameda County.

The study was done 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.

Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Researchers found that 42.7 percent of 5th, 7th and 9th graders in San Leandro are overwight or obese. Hayward had the same rate of teen and tween obesity.

The lowest obesity rate in Alameda County was found in Pleasanton at 22.8 percent. The countywide average was 34.5 percent.

Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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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