The Research
The Northern Virginia Healthy Kids Coalition has developed its plans based on extensive research in the Northern Virginia community. An expansive regional survey sponsored by Inova Health System and conducted in 2007 by Professional Research Consultants, Inc. showed that among Northern Virginia children and adolescents age 2-18:
- Over 100,000 are either overweight or at-risk of becoming overweight
- 16.5% are overweight (an estimated 66,100 children)
- 9.9% are at-risk (an estimated 39,700 children)
- 286,000 do not eat enough fruits and vegetables
- 227,000 do not engage in moderate or vigorous exercise on a daily basis
- 232,000 spend four or more hours per day in front of a TV or computer screen
- The highest risk is seen among elementary school-aged children, children living at lower incomes, and African-American children/adolescents.
Furthermore, parents typically fail to recognize when their child is overweight, and physicians are not advising parents that a child is overweight
- Only 24.6% of parents of overweight children perceive their child as being “overweight”
- Only 21.3% of overweight children are currently trying to lose weight
- Only 20.2% of overweight children have had a doctor advise a parent that the child is overweight
Projecting these numbers forward, within the next several decades the Northern Virginia region will have hundreds of thousands of adults at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and many other health problems as a result of unhealthy lifestyles beginning in childhood. If this occurs, the combination of chronically ill adults, aging baby boomers, and at-risk children will place unprecedented pressure on our health care system, our public budgets and the economy in general.
In this context, promoting better health through energy balance is more than an initiative to improve our children’s health. It is an investment in the health of our community which could pay dividends for decades to come.
