Analysis of Obesity in California

School Ties

Obesity By Ethnicity in California

Unhealthy State

20% Of California Adults are Obese30% of California Children are Obese

• PE classes in both size and teachers are dropping: An increase in P.E. class size (26 percent), reduc-tion in the amount of time dedicated to P.E. class (23 percent) and reduction in staff who oversee physical activity opportunities (22 percent) were the most common negative impacts.

Starts With The Parents

Eating Habits

• Every day, more than 2 million California adolescents (62 percent) drink soda and 1.4 million (43 percent) eat fast food, but only 38 percent eat ve or more servings of fruits and vegetables, say the researchers at UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

• Nearly one-third of American children two years and older are overweight or obese, and even higher proportions among low-income children and ethnic minorities.•• Teens whose parents drink soda every day are nearly 40 percent more likely to drink soda every day them-selves than teens whose parents do not drink soda.• Teens whose parents eat ve servings of fruits and vegetables daily are 16 percent more likely to do the same than teens whose parents do not eat ve servings a day.• Nearly half of adolescents (48 percent) whose parents drink soda every day eat fast food at least once a day, while only 39 percent of teens whose parents do not drink soda eat fast food at least once daily.•• 45 percent of teens whose parents do not eat ve servings of fruits and vegetables daily eat fast food at least once a day, while only 39 percent of teens whose parents eat ve servings a day eat fast food at least once daily.

• Nearly 40 percent of California children are not physically t, and the prevalence of obesity among school-age children has more than doubled for children aged 6–11 years (from 7 percent to 17 percent) and more than tripled for children aged 12–19 years (from 5 percent to 18 percent) in the past 30 years

•• Minimum weekly time allotted for physical activity in California is 200 min for grades 1-6 and 400 min for grades 7-12.

• 97% of children play video games

Couch Potatoes

Fast Proximity I Saw it on TV

According to a UC Berkeley and Columbia Univesity report, “The presence of an outlet within easy walking distance of a high school -- about 530 feet or less -- resulted in a 5.2% in-crease in the incidence of student obesity.”

The nding that students who are constantly ex-posed to fast food are more likely to be fat "should not be a surprise," said Brenda Roche, a registered dietitian at UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County,"If you put a McDonald's in front of a school, "If you put a McDonald's in front of a school, kids will eat there," she said. "Obesity is as much a factor of environment as it is a matter of choice."

• Pediatricians, child development experts, and media researchers have theorized that media may contribute to childhood obesity in one or more of the following ways:• The time children spend using media displaces time they could spend in physical activitiesphysical activities• The food advertisements children are exposed to on TV inuence them to make unhealthy food choices• The cross-promotions between food products and popular TV and movie characters are encouraging children to buy and eat characters are encouraging children to buy and eat more high calorie foods• Children snack excessively while using media, and they eat less healthy meals when eating in front of the TV•• Watching TV and videos lowers children’s meta-bolic rates below what they would be even if they were sleeping• Depictions of nutrition and body weight in enter-tainment media encourage children to develop less healthy diets.