16
doc • Winter 2014
Kentucky
Tackling the obesity
epidemic:
Southern Obesity Summit, 2014
By Carolyn Dennis
Background:
The 8th Annual Southern
Obesity Summit (SOS)
was held, for the first
time, in Kentucky on October 5-7, 2014,
in Louisville. Presented annually by the
Texas Health Institute, and partnering
this year with Shaping Kentucky’s Future
Collaborative (SKFC), the Southern
Obesity Summit is the largest regional
obesity prevention event in the United
States, drawing hundreds of participants
from 16 Southern States including Alabama,
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New
Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and
West Virginia.
SKFC, a coalition of Kentucky grant-makers,
is dedicated to reducing the risks of obesity
in Kentucky. SKFC’s goals are to educate
and advance policy in the areas of nutrition,
physical activity, and the built environment.
The coalition took its name from a brief
issued by state policymakers in 2009 to
provide a blueprint for effective policies to
lower Kentucky’s rate of obesity, a major factor in so many chronic diseases.
During the three-day summit, over 300
participants convened to share emerging
and effective obesity prevention policy and
practices from across the region. Attendees
included policymakers, leaders from community based organizations, federal and
state government officials, health care providers, and members from national and state
associations.
Obesity is one of Kentucky’s most dire
and burdensome public health epidemics.
According the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance System, Kentucky had the highest percentage of obese high schools students in the nation in 2013 at 18 percent. In
addition, the Bluegrass State now has the
fifth highest adult obesity rate in the nation
according a report recently released by
the Trust for America’s Health and Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation.
Speaker highlights:
Dr. Stephanie Mayfield (KY Public Health
Commissioner http://chfs.ky.gov/dph/)
contrasted Kentucky obesity statistics with
national rates. 31.3 percent of the state’s
adults are obese vs. the 27.6 percent national
average. As noted above, 18 percent of our
youth are obese vs. 13.7 percent, the U.S.
average.
Larry Cohen (Prevention Institute http://
www.preventioninstitute.org/) said only 3
percent of our healthcare dollars are spent
on prevention, which makes little sense
when life expectancy is based 20 percent on
genetics, 10 percent on healthcare and 70
percent on behavior/lifestyle.
General D. Allen Youngman (Mission:
Readiness, a nonpartisan national security
organization of over 500 retired admirals,
generals, and other retired senior military
leaders calling for smart investments in
America’s children. http://www.missionreadiness.org/) said “Childhood obesity is
a national security issue. Seventy three percent of 17- to 24-year olds in the U.S. cannot
serve in the military, primarily because they
are too poorly educated, too overweight,
or have a serious criminal record. Obesity
is, by far, the most common issue we see.”
Additionally, he said injuries are much more
common than in the past. “Eighteen years of
drinking more soda than milk leads to more
stress fractures, as well.”
Dr. Craig Blakely (Dean of the School of
Public Health and Information Sciences,
University of Louisville http://louisville.
edu/sphis/) noted that Kentucky leads the
nation in consumption of the soft drink,
Mountain Dew.
Additionally, one panel discussion acknowledged: “Sitting is the new smoking.” The
effects of sitting go far beyond fewer calories
burned — which explains why research \