Utah kids least obese in the U.S., report finds

Sixth graders work together to twirl on a new piece of playground equipment during lunch recess at Liberty Elementary School in Murray on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. | Steve Griffin, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah ranks lowest in the nation for youth obesity rates, and while that’s something to be proud of, helping kids maintain healthy lifestyles through adulthood is becoming more of an issue.

A new report shows 8.7% of Utah youth ages 10 to 17 are obese, lower than the national average of 15.3%, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The nonprofit’s State of Childhood Obesity report, released Thursday, highlights a number of efforts being made across the country to help children live healthy lifestyles.

Those efforts seem to be making a difference, particularly in Utah.

“There are some great things happening in the state,” said Sarah Hodson, executive director at Get Healthy Utah, a nonprofit group that advocates for and partners with schools, communities and other agencies to foster and develop programs that help.

“We want people to have high quality of life and live up to their full potential,” Hodson said.

Get Healthy Utah is working with the Utah State Board of Education to institute a guideline for schools to not withhold recess for students who exhibit bad behavior. Another initiative involves creating “smarter lunchrooms,” which Hodson said deals with behavioral economics and making small changes, ranging from what’s offered and how it is presented, to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables.

When schools offer recess before lunch, she said, it helps students focus more on eating their lunch, but also encourages physical activity.

And, Davis School District recently decided to encourage programs that don’t use candy or treats to incentivize students, Hodson said.

“Solving the obesity crisis is complex. There’s not one solution,” she said. “It’s a combination of making sure there are opportunities for activity and healthy eating in every setting a person will be involved.”

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report states that childhood obesity rates have “held relatively steady in recent years. Yet, childhood obesity rates remain stubbornly and historically high, putting millions of young people at greater risk for serious health conditions, including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and asthma.”

Obesity rates across the country, the report finds, are representative of economic, policy and environmental influences, but also cultural norms and individual factors.

“Where children live, learn, work and play have a great impact on the choices available to them,” it states.

Nationally, there are huge disparities across ethnicities, as black and Hispanic youth are more likely to struggle with their weight than kids of white or Asian descent. Income levels also seem to be an issue, as obesity was present in 21.9% of youth from households earning less than the federal poverty level.

Mississippi had the highest overall youth obesity rate, 25.4%, followed by West Virginia, Kentucky and Louisiana. Utah was the lowest in the rankings, which were compiled using a variety of officially and self-reported statistics. The next lowest was Minnesota, with 9.4% of teens obese, followed by Alaska, 9.9%, and Colorado with 10.7% of teens obese, according to the report.

It is the first time the foundation has focused primarily on childhood obesity rates.

“I’ve realized that obesity and other health concerns are symptoms of larger, more systemic problems regarding health and equity in our society. Poverty. Unstable and unsafe housing. Schools that don’t meet children’s needs. Neighborhoods that seldom offer families opportunities to thrive,” Richard Besser, president and CEO at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said. “These are all conditions that influence health.”

The report recommends maintaining nutrition standards and funding for programs that help children have access to healthy foods, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It also purports that state and local policymakers should allow cities and counties the flexibility to regulate, tax or otherwise enact legislation related to children’s health and healthy communities.

Hodson said Utah succeeds in helping children because of people’s willingness to work together.

“Everybody is trying to work together for good,” she said. “No one organization can do it alone.”

The Utah Department of Health, which provides survey data to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, also works to increase healthy options in communities across the state.

Regardless of where Utah sits with kids, Hodson said obesity rates in adults are continually increasing, which means more could be done to foster healthier lifestyles long-term in the Beehive State.

“This challenge touches the lives of far too many children in this country,” Besser said, adding that the foundation “is committed to reducing the rates of childhood obesity across the nation.”

“We know it won’t be easy, or quick. We know it will require policy changes at every level of government, and we’re working alongside others to implement shifts that will make it easier for kids and their families to be healthy,” he said.

The full report can be found online, at stateofchildhoodobesity.org.

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