Among all the threats our children may one day face — everything from terrorism to global warming — the most serious may be the one we seem most reluctant to face: childhood obesity.
The Boston Globe reported last week that about one third of Massachusetts school students tested so far are overweight or obese.
Massachusetts is among a growing number of states requiring public school districts to calculate the body mass index of every student at some point during the school year.
Massachusetts has so far tested 110,000 students. The information is aggregated for policymakers, but parents receive an individual report for their child.
The results are frightening and generally confirm what we have long known about adult obesity: The most serious problems are found in the poorest communities.
But the disparities uncovered in the Massachusetts research are still shocking.
Lawrence, one of the state’s poorest cities, according to the Globe report, had the highest rate of students with excessive weight, about 47 percent.
Arlington, meanwhile, a far wealthier Boston suburb “with a longstanding commitment to nutrition and exercise campaigns,” had the lowest level, about 10 percent.
Maine, meanwhile, passed a law in 2009 mandating that school districts report aggregate BMI data to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Maine Center for Disease Control is apparently now drawing up rules for collecting the data.
However, the law also provides that the data will not be collected until there is federal money to pay for its collection, according to David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the Maine Department of Education.
We’re also afraid Mainers may prove a bit more resistant to mandates from above than their neighbors in the Bay State, especially when it involves the girth of their children.
Several years ago, an Auburn program to report student BMI to parents was quickly scuttled after parents objected.
That was unfortunate, and we hope this new statewide program doesn’t meet the same fate.
When it comes to childhood obesity, what we don’t know — or are unwilling to confront — can be deadly.
Research shows that obese children too often become obese adults. Meanwhile, adult obesity is connected to a host of medical problems including heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
From a public policy perspective, there is even more frightening news for Maine in the Massachusetts numbers.
Since childhood obesity is connected to poverty, we can likely assume that the threat is even greater in Maine.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Maine’s poverty rate was 12.6 percent in 2008, while Massachusetts’ was 10.1.
But the difference in per-capita income is even greater: $36,745 for Maine vs. $49,875 for Massachusetts.
The frightening prospect for legislators and policymakers in Maine is that the increased health problems associated with future adult obesity will fall the hardest on the people least able to pay their own medical bills.
Meaning, of course, that taxpayers will end up paying them instead.
The only ray of light in the Massachusetts results is that school districts and communities with a commitment to nutrition, exercise and education have lower childhood obesity rates.
Like they say, however, the first step in solving any problem is to make it measurable.
Maine must begin collecting the data, whether or not federal funding is available.
editorialboard@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
