Louisiana needs statewide plan to battle obesity | NOLA.com

For the past five years, Louisiana has consistently ranked in the top 5 percent of obese states in the nation. But Louisianans can lose pounds if individuals, communities and policymakers all collaborate to enact a statewide plan, local health experts say.

"A multilevel approach is needed," said Dr. Melinda Sothern, a national fitness and nutrition expert who currently serves as academic program director at the LSU department of behavioral and community health sciences. "We need state legislators to support the grassroots-level efforts," Sothern said.

The Fit NOLA Challenge for a Healthier Louisiana project is one such program. The Louisiana Public Health Institute and City of New Orleans health department will partner with community organizations to encourage the approximately 64,000 residents in underserved neighborhoods to use their neighborhood parks and buy fresh foods.

With $2.2 million in funding, Fit NOLA will link community health clinics, parks and farmers markets in the St. Roch, Gert Town and Hoffman Triangle-Central City neighborhoods.

Every week, the participating parks will feature concession stands offering healthy foods and promoting fun physical activities. The clinics will give fresh-food vouchers to diabetic patients and expectant mothers to redeem at neighboring farmers markets. To encourage use of the parks, police officers and volunteer reservists will provide security.

"New Orleans is burdened by higher obesity rates, but the enthusiasm, energy and potential for this community to win that battle is there," said Dr. Karen DeSalvo, city health commissioner. "Together, we're going to win."

The program also focuses on engaging young people in schools to take more responsibility for their health. According to experts, children in Louisiana are the second fattest in the nation. The work of the student Rethinkers has successfully changed many school policies on cafeteria food, bathrooms and student discipline after Hurricane Katrina. They created an annual School Food Report rating the quality of cafeteria food at every public school in New Orleans. The Rethinkers will help develop an empowerment curriculum for Fit NOLA that will include school assemblies, workshops and sessions for students on how to make healthier choices.

"If you're going to impact students, it's best to have students at the forefront," said Thena Robinson-Mock, executive director of Rethink. She says that their partnership with Fit NOLA will push the Rethinkers to become better youth leaders and also help provide the program with a voice for healthy young people.

Last year, Louisiana ranked as the second most obese in the nation, according to a recent report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At 33.4 percent, Louisiana's obesity rates are second only to Mississippi, which leads the nation at 34.9 percent. No state had a rate lower than 20 percent, an indication that obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the nation.

Sothern says she is disappointed at how efforts to battle the disease in Louisiana have not been as effective as she hoped.

"What we've done thus far hasn't been major, but we do have some good policies in schools," she said. These include reducing the number of vending machines, reinforcing physical education programs, incorporating local produce in cafeteria menus and promoting edible schoolyards.

However, according to Sothern, enforcing these policies is difficult, especially as they vary within every parish and school district. The persistent lack of funding also prevents most obesity programs from launching on time.

It's important to have a coordinated statewide plan that policymakers, schools, communities and health care providers can implement together, she said.

Aside from reinforcing current efforts, additional policies encouraging physical activity should be developed, such as enforcing pedestrian lanes and bike zones and reinstituting school recess for children. Sothern says that most people do not know the role of the environment in promoting obesity.

The state also needs to pour more health care dollars into programs that manage the treatment and care of overweight people.

"If we want to see waistlines reduced, we're going to have to invest in infrastructure," Sothern said.

Maki Somosot can be reached at msomosot@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3318.

Source: http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2012/08/louisiana_needs_statewide_plan.html