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CATCHing the Killer - Obesity
Public health program helps prevent childhood obesity, a serious condition with grave,
lifelong health implications
Last spring, Nicholas wore a size 14 pants. Although his mother tried during the summer to focus on good eating habits and increasing activity levels, by late August, Nicholas was up to a size 18.
Steven H. Kelder, Ph.D., found that when schools implement the internationally recognized CATCH program, children eat healthier, increase physical activity and prevent the onset of early weight gain.
"Once school started, things began to change," Nicholas' mother wrote to the elementary school principal. "I noticed Nicholas beginning to look at labels and talk about good food choices. He also began to make the connection about how exercise will keep him healthy.... Making that connection at school has more than helped me be able to instill good healthy habits at home. And the best part is that the words 'diet' and 'weight loss' have never been brought up! It's been all about healthy eating and activity habits."
Nicholas is more active now, and his pants size has returned to a 14.
"Thank you so much for loving these kids enough to take on teaching the CATCH program, " Nicholas' mother wrote.
So far CATCH, A Coordinated Approach to Child Health, has been adopted in 1,500 Texas elementary schools with about 750,000 children.
"CATCH involves all elements of the school: classroom instruction, physical education, school food service, the school administration," said Steven H. Kelder, Ph.D., speaking at the Nov. 11 President's Executive Luncheon. "It involves families with homework assignments and family fun nights.
"CATCH teaches children the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy choices, provides a place to practice these new skills in PE and at lunch and home.
CATCH tries to engineer consistent, supporting, positive healthy messages from all corners of the school and at home," said Kelder, who is director of the Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research and associate professor of epidemiology and behavioral science at The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston.
Too many kids play on Nintendo rather than on playgrounds;
they have gone from Generation Y to Generation XL."
CATCH is a key element in an urgently important public health effort - preventing childhood obesity.
"Obesity-related illness is the fastest growing killer of Americans. Obesity is second only to cigarette smoking in its lethal impact," Kelder said.
"And we are seeing more and more of this in our children. Too many kids play on Nintendo rather than on playgrounds; they have gone from Generation Y to Generation XL.
"Only recently," he said, "have we begun to understand that childhood obesity is a serious condition with grave, lifelong health implications. Couch potato kids are not just at risk for developing bad habits, they are at risk for developing dangerous adult diseases."
According to studies at the School of Public Health, Texas children are among the most obese in America. Overall, 30 percent of fourth graders are obese, and children who live near the Texas-Mexico border have the highest rates in the state; 45 percent of fourth grade border boys are obese.
Fiscal Consequences"While researchers document the health consequences of obesity, it's the economists who explain the fiscal consequences of doing nothing," said Steven H. Kelder, Ph.D., speaking at the Nov. 11 President's Executive Luncheon. Kelder is director of the Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research at The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston. In the year 2000, the total annual cost of obesity in the United States was estimated at $117 billion. "Here in Texas," he said, "conservatively speaking, today we spend $10 billion dollars on obesity; by 2040, that number could easily double to $20 billion. This is a recipe for disaster. "Put simply, we need a paradigm shift in American health care. Ninety-five percent of the $1.4 trillion dollars America spends on health goes to direct medical services, while only 5 percent is allocated to preventing disease and promoting health. We need a stronger, more effective public health system." |
In the past decade in Houston, endocrinologists have seen almost a 10-fold increase in the number of children diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Sleep disorders, hypertension, high cholesterol, orthopedic problems and liver disease are other health problems associated with childhood obesity.
"For the sake of our children," Kelder said, "we must turn the rising tide of obesity in our population."
CATCH is one way to do that. With funding from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the Center for Health Promotion and collaborating universities in Minnesota, Louisiana and California conducted randomized controlled trials to determine the effects of CATCH.
"Bottom line - CATCH works," he said. "If schools implement the program, they can expect children to eat healthier, increase physical activity and prevent the onset of early weight gain."
Led by the Texas Medical Association, the Texas Coordinated School Health and Physical Education Coalition - a collaboration of numerous health-related organizations - assisted in the passage of Senate Bill 19, now nationally recognized as landmark legislation, which requires daily physical activity for Texas elementary school children now and, by 2007, implementation of an approved, coordinated school health program in all elementary schools.
The collaborative efforts in Texas continue to grow, and recently CATCH was honored as an outstanding program by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, M.D.
While Texas has taken the lead, several other states also have CATCH initiatives under way. The Department of Defense has adopted the CATCH physical education component, and trainings have been conducted in Japan, Germany and Camp Lejeune, N.C. Other countries interested in implementing the program include Mexico and Canada.
"The reason CATCH has been successful is because it brings together teachers, administrators, parents and the community to work together towards improving the health of their children," Kelder said. "It is bringing together officials from city, state and federal governments; public and private health and education organizations; even international organizations. What we all have in common is this: we are partners in the business of disease prevention and health promotion."
Quoting Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world," Kelder said, "Our goal is to change the world."
By Ina Fried, Public Affairs