Children's Hospitals and Clinics checks up on Minnesota child obesity

Report gathers data on key indicators.

July 16, 2012 at 5:41PM

Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota partnered with the University of Minnesota State Health Access Data Assistance Center to assemble data to better understand how Minnesota is doing on some key indicators of children's health.

Its July checkup report explored preventing childhood obesity. It noted that while the obesity rate has doubled among adults, it has tripled among children. One in six children age 2 to 19 is now obese, a rate three times higher than it was in 1980. Another one in six children is overweight, meaning that one of every three children in America is obese or overweight.

In Minnesota, 23.1 percent have weight problems. Among Minnesota adolescents ages 10-17, 11.1 percent are obese. Children who live in families below the poverty level or who are on public health insurance are far more likely to be obese than children who live in more financially secure homes or who are on private insurance. This disparity is even more pronounced in Minnesota than in other areas of the country.

Among the report's recommendations:

  • Tracking BMI from the age of two.
    • Promoting the benefits of breastfeeding exclusively until six months of age.
      • Reducing intake of saturated fat and sweetened beverages while increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables.
        • Limiting children's screen time to two hours a day.
          • Recognizing and acknowledging children's weight problems.
            about the writer

            about the writer

            Colleen Stoxen

            Deputy Managing Editor for News Operations

            Colleen Stoxen oversees hiring, intern programs, newsroom finances, news production and union relations. She has been with the Minnesota Star Tribune since 1987, after working as a copy editor and reporter at newspapers in California, Indiana and North Dakota.

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