Iowans Urged to Come Together at Statewide Summit to Find Solutions to Childhood Obesity Crisis

DES MOINES, Iowa, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ — Iowa residents are invited to come together on August 25 to discuss solutions to the alarming issue of childhood obesity — which can lead to the development of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, later in life — at the Shaping America’s Youth(R) (SAY) Iowa Citizens’ Summit on Childhood Obesity at the Polk County Convention Center in Des Moines.

The problem of childhood obesity is especially alarming for Iowa since 70% of middle-age adults in the state are overweight and 37.5% of sampled Iowa 3rd to 5th graders are at risk for becoming overweight or are currently overweight. Experts say that today’s youth may be the first generation to have a shorter life span than their parents due to the obesity epidemic.

Past SAY Town Meetings, which offer a very different grassroots yet high- tech process for finding solutions to the epidemic of childhood overweight, have attracted up to 1,000 interested citizens. Event organizers expect the Iowa Summit to also attract hundreds of citizens because of Iowa’s childhood obesity crisis. While SAY has held town meetings in Memphis, Dallas, and Philadelphia, Iowa is the first state to organize a statewide summit on the epidemic.

“Chronic diseases are the greatest threat to our nation’s health and our health care system,” said Chris Atchison, co-chair, Partnership for Better Health. “Obesity is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases. This effort is an opportunity to address the issue early to prevent costly complications later on.”

According to William Dietz, MD, PhD and Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity these citizen summits offer “the opportunity for concerned citizens to share their views about how we can work together to solve this problem.” Government statistics show that Iowa’s youth are especially at risk and vulnerable to the potential chronic diseases and lifestyles that come from a lifetime of obesity:

   — Childhood excess weight is a predictor of chronic diseases of      adulthood.   — More than 30% of low income 2-5 year olds in Iowa are at-risk for      becoming overweight or are currently overweight.   — Among a sample of Iowa 3rd-5th graders, 37.5% are at-risk for becoming      overweight or are currently overweight.   — Overweight children have a 70% chance of becoming overweight adults;      80% if a parent is overweight.   

Obesity can lead to other chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes — which are the real drivers of healthcare costs in this country. Whether through rising healthcare costs or personal experience, the growing epidemic of obesity will have an impact on all Iowans. “The fitness of our communities begins with healthy children and families,” said Dennis Haney, Program Coordinator, Iowans Fit for Life. “We believe the Shaping America’s Youth Iowa Citizens’ Summit and Iowa citizen participation will not only help generate family- and community-based solutions to the epidemic, but will make a considerable impact on public health and policy.”

Summit planners hope the nationally recognized event will bring together citizens representing diverse demographic and socioeconomic groups who have ideas about the solution to the childhood obesity epidemic. Through innovative and interactive tools, participants will work in table groups aided by facilitators from AmericaSpeaks, a non-profit organization involved in high- profile citizen engagement issues. Each table group will offer ideas that will be summarized onto giant viewing screens. The entire audience will then prioritize their collective recommendations, which will be recorded for future inclusion into the Shaping America’s Youth Community Based Action Plan that will be presented to national leaders.

Locally, participants will also be able to provide input on a preliminary plan for addressing Iowa’s childhood obesity crisis.

“As with SAY’s National Registry of Programs, these Town Meetings are building a credible voice that will balance the wisdom of crowds against the traditional opinion of experts in determining how our nation might best respond to this critical health challenge our children face,” said David McCarron, MD, FACP, SAY’s Executive Director.

Shaping America’s Youth (SAY) is a first-of-its-kind, public/private initiative designed to combine the efforts of numerous organizations and programs to create a “grassroots” plan for healthier nutrition and activity for children. SAY and its parent organization Shaping America’s Health were chartered by the American Diabetes Association to address the prevention and management of America’s weight crisis.

Shaping America’s Youth Iowa Citizens’ Summit on Childhood Obesity will be held on August 25th from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm at the Polk County Convention Center in Des Moines. Interested residents can register at http://www.shapingamericasyouth.org/ or by calling 800-SAY-9221.

About the SAY Iowa Citizens’ Summit on Childhood Obesity

The Shaping America’s Youth Iowa Citizens’ Summit is locally hosted by Iowans Fit for Life and The Partnership for Better Health. The SAY Citizens’ Summit is a unique process for uniting local citizens, business leaders, and decision-makers in resolving the crisis of childhood obesity. The town meeting process focuses on discussion and deliberation among citizens rather than speeches, question-and-answer sessions, or panel presentations. The meetings seek grassroots input as to how individuals and their communities view the challenge of improving physical activity and nutrition in children. The SAY Citizens’ Summit uses AmericaSpeaks’ 21st Century Town Meeting(TM) model. AmericaSpeaks is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that engages citizens in public decisions that impact their lives. The 21st Century Town Meeting has been utilized to resolve complex issues such as the reconstruction of “Ground Zero” in New York City.

About Shaping America’s Youth

Shaping America’s Youth is an initiative of Shaping America’s Health: Association for Weight Management and Obesity prevention, an organization that seeks to prevent excess weight and obesity and facilitate scientific understanding of weight management. SAY initially launched in November 2003 in coordination with the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The American Academy of Family Physicians, The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Sports Medicine, the Nutrition Department of the University of California at Davis and the American Diabetes Association. SAY’s corporate partners include Nike, Campbell Soup Company, Cadbury Schweppes, CIGNA Health, ConAgra Foods, GlaxoSmithKline, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Quaker.Tropicana.Gatorade (QTG). For more information, visit http://www.shapingamericasyouth.org/ or call 1-800-SAY-9221.

Claudia Johnson of Shaping America’s Youth, +1-503-266-1776

Shaping America’s Youth

CONTACT: Claudia Johnson of Shaping America’s Youth, +1-503-266-1776

Web site: http://www.shapingamericasyouth.org/