As policymakers in Washington continue to debate health care reform, America’s escalating battle with obesity has come to the forefront of national attention. The reason? There is growing consensus that tackling our nation’s obesity epidemic is a critical element of reining in rising health care costs.
Spending on obesity-related health conditions – among these, heart disease and diabetes – nearly doubled between 1998 and 2006, growing from $74 billion to $147 billion annually in just eight years, according to a new study published last month in the journal Health Affairs. The research found that medical spending averages $1,400 more a year for an obese person.
Nearly a third of Americans are now considered to be obese, and the rates of obesity for children have more than doubled in the last three decades.
Colorado has the lowest prevalence of obesity in the nation, with a population that is 19.3 percent obese, according to America’s Health Rankings. Despite the state’s relative health on this measure, there is more we can do in Colorado to reduce the prevalence of obesity in our communities.
For example, in a project made possible thanks to an innovative partnership between UnitedHealthcare and the nonprofit Youth Service America (YSA), area young people last year learned about healthy eating habits, shared that information with classmates and sought to create a healthy cookbook.
Similar grants are this year funding other service-learning projects in 35 states and the District of Columbia through the “UnitedHealth HEROES” program, which encourages young people, working through educators and youth leaders, to create and implement local hands-on programs to address the issue of childhood obesity. Dozens of applications from across the nation have poured in, including from groups in Colorado, and the grant recipients will be announced in December or early next year.
Research by Denver-based RMC Research Corp. has shown that young people who participate in service-learning programs improve their academic performance and critical-thinking skills, increase their confidence and sense of potential, and accept leadership roles.
Such programs are a crucial part of the solution to the serious dangers posed by our growing waistlines.
Overweight adolescents have a 70-percent chance of becoming overweight or obese adults. And overweight children and adolescents are far more likely to have risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes. Experts increasingly agree we must intervene early in life, if we are to reverse the trend in obesity rates in our country.
We should commend the young people in our area who are already making a difference and join them in taking action on this important issue. Our physical health as a community, and our fiscal health as a nation, depends on it.
Dr. Christopher Stanley is senior medical director of UnitedHealthcare of Colorado, and Steven A. Culbertson is president and CEO of Youth Service America. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
