Community Corner

Child Obesity Rates Below Average in Redlands, Above in Loma Linda

A 2010 study showed 30.8 percent of Redlands children were obese, and 41.4 percent of Loma Linda children were obese, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.

Update 5:14 p.m. The data for the study "Overweight and Obesity among Children by California Cities" came from the 2010 California Physical Fitness Test, Susan Babey, chief researcher for the study, said in a phone interview.

"The data are from the California Physical Fitness Test, conducted annually in public schools in California," said Babey, who works for UCLA. "They test children in grades 5, 7 and 9. It's supposed to be all chidren in those grades in public schools statewide. The fitness test data is from 2010."

Posted 4:44 p.m. Child obesity rates in Redlands are below the county and state averages, and they are slightly above average in Loma Linda, according to a 2010 study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.

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More than 250 California cities were analyzed for the study, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

The study found 38 percent of children in California are obese, and 39.3 percent of children in San Bernardino County are obese.

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The rates for Redlands and Loma Linda cited by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research:

Redlands    30.8

Loma Linda 41.4

A printable pdf fact sheet for San Bernardino County is attached to this report.

On a web page devoted to the study, the California Center for Public Health Advocacy states:

"The epidemic of childhood obesity will not be solved by calling for individual behavior change alone. To address this health crisis, state and local leaders must address the conditions in schools and communities that contribute to the epidemic and undermine parents’ efforts to protect their children’s health."

Harold Goldstein, executive director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, and Susan Babey, chief researcher, were not immediately available to comment.

For more information about the study online, visit www.publichealthadvocacy.org/research_overweight2010.html


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