Hartford Childhood Obesity Coalition Begin Talks of Treatment and Prevention

A panel of influential persons in the plight against childhood obesity in the Hartford district met to discuss childhood obesity prevalence within our community and abroad. Identification of problems as well as a rationale was the basis for its first meeting. Coalition structure and meeting frequency was also discussed for panel effectiveness.

Prevention and treatment were discussed separately behind all relative environmental factors pertinent to both modes of intervention. It was daunting to try and examine and determine root causes for such an evasive national epidemic within a span of an hour and a half. Ultimately, the Coalition will meet henceforth, however, I felt as though I could be there all day identifying and rationalizing the root problems associated with childhood obesity.

Professionals and researchers in the field are aware that it is not just one determinant cause. We as a society, children as well as adults, have developed into a population which have strayed from simplicity. All our foods are processed and added with numbers of unnatural ingredients which I do not even wish to go into. We slump day after day into the same sedentary lifestyles behind a computer or in front of a TV. I always find it disturbing to see a person at a gym or on a walk with their phone in hand texting madly as cars swerve to avoid them. We as a society have become obsessed with electronics. What would we do without our TV or computer or phone?

Children today are not developing within a do-it-yourself society. Everything is so easily accessible. Fast food establishments provide quick and cheap meals which should have a toxic warning on the label. Microwaves reheat highly processed food, typically consisting 75-100% of a person’s daily allowance of sodium, despite whether or not it is deemed as “health conscious.” The Wii has developed games to allow children to become more physically active and I am appreciative of such efforts, however, I believe that acts more as a short term solution and simply puts a band-aid on the problem.

The Coalition was successful in brainstorming a slew of problems relevant to the obesity epidemic. Prevention and treatment of obesity was deemed as necessitating differing modes of intervention. Environmental factors, specific to Hartford, were identified along with some possible modes for solution. Childhood obesity was assessed across the age spectrum. For example, children younger than 2 years of age would be placed within the prevention intervention rather than treatment with an emphasis placed upon breastfeeding containing the following: decreasing overall breastfeeding barriers; establishing improvements in maternity labor laws; increasing breastfeeding support through lactation consultants; and enforcing Baby friendly hospitals.

I was thrilled to sit in on the first meeting of the Hartford Childhood Obesity Coalition. The ideas which were generated were ground breaking and hold such potential for impact. The task at hand is all encompassing, however, and necessitates a true zeal in fighting against obesity. I look forward to hearing progress from the Coalition with successes in both prevention and treatment of childhood obesity.

Kristin Hantzos, EHC! Intern