VOTE: Half of Watsonville Kids Are Fat. What Should We Do?

Nearly 50 percent of Watsonville children are overweight or obese according to a study that says our city has the chubbiest teen and tween population in Santa Cruz County.

The study was done by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA) and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“In general I’ve been looking at obesity in California for a few years now so the overall results didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was that there were an number of cities that were above 50 percent," said Dr. Susan H. Babey, the chief researcher.

The only other city in Santa Cruz County studied had a significantly lower rate; Santa Cruz is at 31 percent. The statewide average obesity rate of the more than 250 cities studied was 38 percent.

Rates ranged from as low as 11 percent in affluent Manhattan Beach to 53 percent for Huntington Park, a factory town. Both are in Los Angeles County. 

Lower income areas seem to have higher obesity rates, according to the study.

“These tend to also be the same areas that don’t have good access to grocery stores and farmers markets, and maybe have a glut of fast food restaurants and convenience stores," Babey said. Those areas also may not have parks or even safe sidewalks to walk on, she added.

Study calls for government action 

The study's authors detailed their methods and the ramifications of their findings, principally that overweight kids tend to grow into overweight adults with all the health problems associated therewith.

The findings are accompanied by nine policy recommendations, including:

• eliminating the sale of fatty foods and high calorie drinks on public facilities;
• establishing taxes on sugary drinks at the state and local levels to pay for the harmful effects of those products and remediate their effects;
• eliminating advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages to children and youth.

Babey said focusing on changes in advertising was paramount to solving the problem in her mind, because there's already work in creating more access to healthy foods and playgrounds.

“I think one of the areas that we haven’t really made that many strides yet is the area of marketing to kids," she said.

Where do you stand?

Do you consider youth obesity primarily a family problem or a community problem? 

Would you put the primary responsibility on parents to cut back on junk foods and video games and promote healthier foods and exercise?

Or should the community play the leading role, all the way from promoting good food and exercise to imposing taxes and advertising restrictions?

Or do you favor a mixture of the above?

Leave a comment below and vote in our poll.

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