Over one half of adults in Massachusetts, and one third of elementary, middle and high school students are overweight or obese. To combat the state’s expanding waistlines, Governor Deval Patrick launched a statewide initiative called Mass in Motion in 2009. Mass in Motion takes a multi-faceted approach to fight obesity including:
· Support for regulatory changes to promote diet and exercise, including BMI screening in public schools
· Requiring state agencies responsible for large-scale food purchasing to follow healthy guidelines
· Expansion of state-sponsored workplace wellness grants to employers
· The launch of the Mass in Motion website
During the 2008-2009 school year 109,674 students in 80 districts were screened for BMI. The sample represents 38% of the 287,107 public school students in all Massachusetts schools in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10. Overall, 63.2% were in the healthy weight category, 16.9% were overweight, and 17.3% were obese.
There was a lot of variation between school districts in the state, ranging from 9.6% overweight or obese students in Arlington to 46.6% in Lawrence. For more information you can see the full report on obesity on the Mass.gov website.
Below are a list of the top 10 districts with the lowest and highest percentage of overweight and obese students. Where does your town weigh in?
Lowest 10:
Arlington 9.6%
Weston 13%
Needham 19.2%
Acton-Boxborough 19.9%
Lexington 21.6%
Brookline 21.7%
Scituate 22.2%
Newton 23.1%
Marblehead 23.3%
Marshfield 23.4%
Highest 10:
Lawrence 46.6%
Fitchburg 46.2%
Holyoke 45%
North Berkshire Union 44%
Springfield 43.6%
Leominster 42%
Haverhill 40.7%
Waltham 40.1%
Lynn 39.9%
Weymouth 38.8%
March is National Nutrition Month and in honor of this I will be exploring the topics of nutrition and healthy weight loss. Stay tuned for more articles on weight loss programs and state-based initiates for obesity prevention.
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