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Childhood Obesity Major Health Concern in KY

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Wednesday, January 11, 2017   

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kentuckians point to obesity as the top health concern for the Commonwealth's children, according to a new report from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. The Kentucky Health Issues Poll found that one in four adults listed their children's weight as the biggest problem.

When it comes to what children eat, nutrition expert Amanda Goldman, the quality and wellness director of Food and Nutrition Services for the Catholic Health Initiatives, says we need to make "healthier choices the easier choices."

"We've got to make things less expensive for folks," she said. "We need to make healthier foods become more marketable and kind of make them more attractive to people."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity increased among high school students in Kentucky to 18.5 percent in 2015, up two percent from 2011, one of the worst rates in the nation. Goldman says in addition to policy changes, more education is needed to help children and their parents learn what's healthy to eat.

Goldman, who is also the director of diabetes and nutrition care for KentuckyOne Health, says policies on unhealthy foods need to change, much like they did on tobacco years ago.

"So that a sugar-sweetened beverage is hopefully going to be more expensive than a non-sugar-sweetened beverage and again making it easier, not just in terms of education, but also from the financial standpoint."

Goldman says when an adolescent is obese it often leads to a myriad of problems for them later in life.

"They obviously have much higher risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure and higher cholesterol levels; prediabetes developing into diabetes; and then all the different types of cancers," she explained.

In terms of those health problems as an adult, 40 percent of those surveyed listed cancer as the top concern for women, especially breast cancer. Cancer and heart disease were equal concerns for men. According to the CDC, cancer and heart disease are the top two killers of Kentuckians.


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