Bill to Tax Sodas Would Fund Childhood Obesity Programs
Last week, CA’s Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez introduced legislation to tax sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages to fund childhood obesity programs in cities and school districts across the state. Given that this legislation may lead to more discussion in Sacramento about kids’ weight, we thought we’d note some related facts:- The percent of 7th graders at a healthy weight has barely budged over the last decade. In 1999, 67% of CA’s 7th-graders were at a healthy weight; in 2008, that percentage inched upward just slightly, to 68%. Percentages and trends were similar for other grade levels.
- The percentage of kids at a healthy weight varied greatly by county, with several Eastern California counties (Nevada, Plumas, Calaveras, Placer, and Mariposa) having the highest percentages of 7th-graders at a healthy weight in 2008.
- And there also were some vast racial/ethnic disparities. About 80% of Asian-American 7th-graders in California were at a healthy weight, compared to 56% of Pacific-Islanders and 61% of Hispanic/Latinos.
School district-level data are available, too, by clicking on any of the links noted above. And if you know of effective programs or awareness campaigns in your community to help ensure that more kids are at a healthy weight, please add your comments below.
Tags: Child Health Initiatives
Posted by Andy Krackov
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 8:19 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Playworks is an AMAZING program that targets the activity levels of elementary aged students in the lower-income regions. They are currently in 10 cities nation wide, including Silicon Valley, East Bay, San Francisco and L.A. in California. The program provides schools with one Coach, trained to encourage and include all kids in safe meaningful play throughout the school day. There is one Coach per school and they become part of the community. I have personally seen the impact of this program and an entire community can change in just one year! Children need safe structured play, especially when they live in an unsafe environment! This is the key to getting kids excited about physical activity!
Nicely done article. Thanks for the update and corresponding data.