ALL THIS RAIN AND THERE’S STILL A DROUGHT?
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By APRIL A. MORRIS | staff
Spartanburg, S.C. • Friday, August 24, 2012 • Vol.8, No.34
KEEPING UPSTATE KIDS HEALTHY
Organizations work to move South Carolina out of the nation’s top 10 most obese states.
Jayden Harder, 6, stands on one leg while playing on the lifesize game board "Race Through Space," part of The Children's Museum of the Upstate's CATCH exhibit. CATCH stands for Coordinated Approach to Child Health, a coordinated school health program designed to promote physical activity, healthy food choices and prevention of tobacco use.
Love of unhealthy food coupled with a sedentary lifestyle has again worked together to rank South Carolina among the top 10 most obese states in the U.S. for 2011. The Palmetto State tied with Indiana at No. 8, with 30.8 percent of South Carolina residents registering a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, according to an analysis by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Using numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the analysis determined that 12 states have an obesity rate above 30 percent. Mississippi topped the list with a rate of 34.9 percent and Colorado came in at the slimmest with 20.7 percent. Obesity has been linked with multiple chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer – which in turn drove up healthcare costs to the tune of $147 billion in 2006, the report said. Obesity costs South Carolina an estimated $1.2 billion, according to the state’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. The state has been working to tackle the problem, launching a variety of programs, including the Healthy South Carolina Initiative, to promote healthy lifestyles and help reduce chronic disease. One of the specific goals of the initiative is to reduce South Carolina’s obesity rate by 5 percent by the end of 2016. Many efforts are focusing on what experts call “environmental changes” to support residents in making individual changes. These broader changes include creating more connected communities and helping residents gain easier access to healthy foods, said Ned Barrett, OBESITY continued on PAGE 8
GREG BECKNER / STAFF
HOT DOG DREAMS COME TRUE DOWNTOWN. PAGE 13
AN OPEN DOOR:
Mindy Friddle joins other authors in Hub City mentoring program. PAGE 17 PHOTO BY PAUL MAHAFFEY / TOWN MAGAZINE