Department of Health Releases New Child Obesity Report

Data Shows High Percentage of New Mexico’s Children are Overweight or Obese

(Santa Fe) – The New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) today released their 2011 report detailing New Mexico’s childhood obesity rates, “The Weight of Our Children: 2011 New Mexico Childhood Obesity Report.” The report shows that 15 percent of kindergarten students and more than 21 percent of third graders are obese; and that American Indian students in New Mexico suffer from obesity at a high rate than other ethnic groups.

“Obesity at a young age can have a very serious effect on the overall health of children and can lead to other negative health conditions later in life such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes,” said DOH Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Catherine Torres. “This report should be a call to action for families, schools, communities and the state to help children at younger ages develop healthy eating and active living behaviors and to create the environmental and policy changes to promote these behaviors. Healthy eating and active living are the two major lifestyle choices that can prevent obesity, but based on our findings in the report, New Mexican children and adolescents eat poorly and lead sedentary lives.”

According to the report, in 2011, 15 percent of kindergarten and 21.9 percent of third grade students were obese. Students in the obese category weighed substantially more than their counterparts in the healthy weight category. For example, the average weight of third grade students in the healthy weight category was 60.4 pounds compared to obese third grade students’ average weight of 101.5 pounds, with some weighing more than 140 pounds. One in three American Indian third grade students were obese in 2011 compared to one in five Hispanic and one in eight white, non-Hispanic third graders.

Patty Morris, director of DOH’s Office of Nutrition and Physical Activity, said in addition to childhood obesity increasing the risk of high cholesterol, hypertension and other precursors to cardiovascular disease, childhood obesity is also associated with increases in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children, which can lead to liver scarring and cirrhosis.

“The list of negative health consequences of obesity among New Mexico children is extensive,” said Morris, who developed the new report. “Type 2 diabetes is no longer called adult-onset because of its alarming rates in our youth, a phenomenon that rarely existed a generation ago. In the 1980s, type 2 diabetes was virtually unknown in teens. Obese children also may be more vulnerable to weight-based bullying and social isolation, thereby resulting in a greater risk of low self-esteem, depression and suicide.”

DOH is addressing the childhood obesity crisis in several ways including the Healthy Kids New Mexico program and by implementing new community-based programs that will be funded by the Community Transformation Grant. Healthy Kids New Mexico includes partnerships with several many state and local schools and other organizations that combines and creates healthy programs to give kids what they need to play well, eat well, learn and live fully.

In 2011, DOH received $1.5 million in funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and this funding of is the first of what is expected to be a five year award totaling $7.5 million towards prevention. The Department will target prevention strategies in 10 counties and 4 tribal communities in New Mexico with greatest health disparities and with strong American Indian, Hispanic, and U.S. - Mexico border population representation with the Community Transformation funding. The targeted counties were selected based on population size, poverty status, racial and ethnic, diversity, geographic diversity, chronic disease burden, and readiness to implement prevention programs. The targeted counties are: McKinley, Cibola, Rio Arriba, Guadalupe, Curry, Chaves, Lea, Socorro, Luna, and Dona Ana. The targeted tribal communities are: San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Zuni, and Mescalero.

Data for the report was gathered from 28 schools throughout the state that provided DOH with heights and weights of 3,658 kindergarten and third grade students. The data was used to calculate a Body Mass Index (BMI) percentile. The BMI percentile includes height, weight, age and gender to calculate weight status. The University of New Mexico Prevention Research Center and the CDC collaborated with DOH on the data analysis.

“The Weight of our Children; 2011 New Mexico Childhood Obesity Report” can be found online at http://department%20of%20health%20releases%20new%20child%20obesity%20report/. For more information about the Healthy Kids New Mexico program go online to http://www.healthykidsnm.org/.