WIC battles childhood obesity epidemic

The Outreach Health Services Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program is sponsoring a free health and nutrition education class entitled, “Childhood Obesity: Lily Faces a Problem,” throughout the  month of June 2001 for pregnant women and mothers with children up to age five.

Cases of childhood obesity in the United States have risen about 50 percent over the past 20 years. The alarming rise in overweight children is no surprise to Linda DeFrank, Outreach Health Services WIC nutritionist and education specialist.

WIC employees routinely graph the height and weight of children enrolled in local WIC programs. Just as the studies and statistics are saying, DeFrank does see more and more young children who are tipping the scale a little too much.

“This issue is much bigger than worrying about whether or not your child will get teased at school,” De Frank said. “When children are obese, they are at higher risk for developing type II diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and other unwanted health problems. Most people don’t develop these diseases until they are well into their adult years. Also, most overweight children grow up to be overweight adults. So the higher threat of disease stays with them.”

Joyce Devereaux, Director of WIC Programs at Outreach Health Services, said the epidemic of childhood obesity is a combination of two social trends: lack of physical activity and poor food choices.

“Children today are typically more sedentary than their parent used to be,” Devereaux said. “Statistics show that they are spending most of their time in front of a television, computer, or video game. Their parents on the other hand, spent more time as children playing outside and riding their bikes.

“What’s worse, in today’s school environment, children are no longer required to have physical education every day. Today, physical education classes have almost become an option in our schools.”

Perhaps even more concerning than the sedentary lifestyle is the diet many children consume today. According to Devereaux, society eats “convenience” foods more than ever.

Convenience foods can consist of fast foods, such as hamburgers and French fries, packaged snacks, such as potato chips and candy bars and even breakfast items such as donuts and pastries. Unfortunately, most of these types of foods are usually high in fat or high in sugar.

“Convenience foods are usually loaded with calories but very low in nutrition,” Devereaux said. “If the food already has a lot of calories, think about how many more calories we add when we go to Wendy’s and have the meal “biggie sized’ for just 40 cents more. Top that off with the sugar that comes from the soft drink, and you can see how the calories are showing up around the waistlines of our children.”

Devereaux understands why many working parents buy fast foods for their children. The zero prep time and affordability make it an appealing option for busy parents. The downside is that parents have little or no control over the fat or sugar content, and the  menus do not typically offer all of the food groups, either.

“You can’t order cooked broccoli or asparagus at most fast food restaurants,” Devereaux said. “The food groups that seem to be eliminated from fast foods are the vegetable group and fruit group. These are two vital food groups for overall health – and they just happen to be low in calories.”

Outreach Health Services provides a variety of services through its WIC Clinics including free nutrition education, breastfeeding classes, immunizations, health screenings, and vouchers for health foods to pregnant women and mothers with children up to age five.

Outreach Health Services provides WIC services to Donley County and operates a WIC Clinic in Clarendon on the second Monday of each month.

For more information, class schedules, or to make a reservation, call the Outreach Health Services WIC Clinic in Clarendon at 874-3011.