- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A 30-year trend in increasing childhood obesity rates in California may be leveling off, but rates are still three times higher among 12- to 19-year-olds and four times higher among 6- to 11-year-olds than they were in the 1970s, according to a report released Nov. 9 by the California Center of Public Health Advocacy and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. At the same time, improvements are not being seen evenly throughout the state, with 31 of California’s 58 counties experiencing an increase in childhood overweight over the five-year period from 2005 to 2010.
Tulare County was one of the 31 to see obesity and overweight rates climb in...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The 4-H Youth Development program is about sewing, cooking, organic gardening, arts and crafts, scrapbooking, creating PowerPoint presentations and more — all in an effort to build leadership, collaboration and hands-on learning in youth ages 5 to 19 years old, according to an article by Sena Christian on the Granite Bay website. The story centered on the efforts of two 4-H volunteer leaders who rescued a club program "on the verge of extinction."
Obesity Awareness Month
(Solano, Napa) Times Herald, Denise Kirnig, RD, MS
In an...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Some experts say federal farm subsidies contribute to the nation's obesity crisis, reports Marni Jameson in the Chicago Tribune. They argue that corn and wheat, the most heavily subsidized crops, are also staples in a variety of common, fattening, nutrition-deficient foods. But UC agricultural economist Julian Alston says farm subsidies are unrelated to obesity. "I get annoyed because everyone points to farm subsidies as one of the top two reasons for the obesity epidemic, but it's irrelevant," Alston said. He believes the elimination of farm subsidies would have a...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The common notion that the federal government is contributing to the obesity epidemic by providing billions of dollars in annual subsidies to farmers doesn't pencil out, according to UC Davis agricultural economist Julian Alston.
Alston was featured in a six-minute NPR story about farm subsidies yesterday. The story largely dispelled the theory that federal subsidies encourage farmers to grow too much grain, causing commodity prices to drop, making food cheaper and inviting people to eat too much.
Alston said improved agricultural productivity is...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Even as bad news about increasing rates of obesity nationwide continues to roll in - dismal 2010 data was published by the Associated Press today - there are some encouraging trends that may begin to reverse the problem. UC Cooperative Extension nutrition educator Sara Bosse injected a positive message during a recent Quality of Life broadcast about obesity, aired on Valley Public Radio.
"Those of us who have been working on the issue for a long time are seeing results of...
