By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-976644.mp3
Dallas, TX – A national report says 30 percent of Texans are obese. That makes Texas the 12th most obese state in the country.
Being obese means your weight relative to their height is so high you're at risk for serious health problems.
Proctor: If you are obese and you are overweight you are likely to suffer from hypertension, diabetes a variety of heart diseases. Your joints, your knees, your hips, you may have problems there.
That's Dwayne Proctor of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For the eighth year the foundation and the Trust for America's Health have produced the report, "F as in Fat."
It found that despite education campaigns and better policies adult obesity rates last year climbed in 16 states including Texas.
The epidemic affects all ethnic groups in Texas but it's especially high among specific minorities. Some 39 percent of African Americans and 36 percent of Latinos are obese.
Proctor says one of the problems is the cost of eating healthy.
Proctor: It's an obstacle when healthy affordable foods that can be grown in the United States and sold to our communities cost more than the foods of lower nutritional value, and when we see that subsidies for our farms are for products not to feed us but to fuel our cars.
Another factor for children is the increased time they spend using the computer or watching TV. That sedentary time coupled with advertising is expanding waistlines.
Proctor: Our children see more ads for lower nutrient products in the course of their media exposure whether its television or Internet or otherwise than any adults ever see in the course of a day
The study applauds Texas schools for limiting the sale of vending machine junk foods; for requiring physical education; and for performing weight related assessments of students.
Proctor says in time those policies will pay off though they may not be enough.
Among its recommendations the study calls on the food and beverage companies to eliminate the advertising of unhealthy foods and for government to adopt regulations to make sure they do.