New Hampshire ranked number 1 in the nation in the Kids Count report. But childhood obesity isn't part of that picture.

A recent editorial in the Concord Monitor pointed out that rising rates of childhood obesity and overweight are not part of the Kids Count assessment. The annual KIDS COUNT Data Book collects the state by state data to measure the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children. Their key indicators are all important measures but do not include childhood obesity.

Some interesting statistics from the New Hampshire Childhood Obesity Expert Panel in 2006:

• 32.8% of New Hampshire children in the 6-12 year old age group were overweight or obese
• 24% NH high school students were found to be overweight or obese
• Among children with newly diagnosed diabetes, several clinic based studies have shown that the percentage classified as Type 2 has increased from less than 5% before 1994 to 30% to 50% in subsequent years.

The Childhood Obesity Action Network's 2008 State Obesity Profile shows:

• 55.9% of NH children ages 6-17 participate in 4 or more days/week of vigorous physical activity. The national statistic is 59%.
• 38.3% in the same age group engage in 2 or more hours of screen time daily, better than the nationwide statistic of 44.9%.
• While our state rank 27.3% for overweight and obese children in the 10-17 age group is #16 (1 is best), 26.5% of children in higher income families (greater than 400% federal poverty level) are overweight or obese, compared to the national level of 22.9%.

Take Action
Ranking, age groups, and weight classifications aside, the bottom line is that more and more children are overweight and this raises serious health concerns. The New Hampshire Childhood Obesity Expert Panel 's 2007 report titled Preventing Childhood Obesity: Promoting physical activity & healthy eating includes recommendations and action steps for families, schools, health care providers and communities.

Additional recommendations will soon be provided by the New Hampshire Commission on the Prevention of Childhood Obesity, which is addressing HEAL related policy issues. The commission will recommend specific legislative and policy strategies for preventing childhood obesity. For example, the commission is reviewing national standards for the beverage industry that would comply with the types of recommendations included in the Healthy Schools Framework developed by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The commission will report its findings and any recommendations for proposed legislation to the house, senate, and governor, by Nov. 15, 2009.

Thank you to the Concord Monitor for their insightful editorial.