15-State Southern Obesity Summit to focus on obesity, especially in children

With Thanksgiving and end-of-the-year holidays coming soon, many Americans will eat, drink and get heavier.

It is a challenging season for those working to control and reverse our nation's obesity epidemic.

Luckily this is an opportune time to remind everyone of the problem and discuss ideas and projects to combat obesity, especially in children, according to organizers of the annual 15-state Southern Obesity Summit.

The 2008 gathering will be held Nov. 9-11 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. Researchers and educators at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), a summit host, will welcome healthcare professionals and academic, government and scientific leaders to develop and share strategies for fighting obesity.

Summit attendees will come from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Many are part of obesity "state teams" scheduled to report on programs, legislation, research and other initiatives designed to fight the epidemic. State teams are composed of government officials, public health professionals, healthcare providers, community organizers and individuals concerned with the growing epidemic.

"Obesity is a major cause of death in the United States. Aside from mortality rates, however, obesity substantially increases sickness, disability and impaired quality of life," said David Allison, Ph.D., director of UAB's Clinical Nutrition Research Center and a summit organizer. "So much anti-obesity work has been done, but even more is needed, especially in the parts of the nation struggling with the epidemic like the South."

Speakers and panelists will include UAB researchers and Kenneth Cooper, M.D., a Texas-based health author and entrepreneur widely regarded as the "father of aerobics" for his 1986 fitness book Aerobics .

Other participants will include Donna Richardson Joyner, Buns of Steel fitness guru and appointee to the President's Council for Physical Fitness and Sports appointee; and Adewale Troutman, M.D., an associate professor at the University of Louisville and director of the Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness department. A complete schedule is online at http://www.southernobesitysummit.org.

Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta show nearly two-thirds of all Americans are either overweight or obese. Nine of the 10 fattest states are in the South. The summit will highlight community-led health initiatives, school-based efforts, personal-responsibility messages and other tactics.

The Southern Obesity Summit is organized by the Austin-based Texas Health Institute in partnership with the UAB School of Public Health, the president's council, the Alabama Department of Health, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors, the Georgia Health Policy Center, the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, the National Network of Public Health Institutes, the National Society of Physical Activity Practitioners in Public Health and Shaping America's Health.

*Southern states obesity rankings:
Alabama - 3rd; 30.1%
Arkansas - 9th; 28.1%
Florida - 38th; 23.3%
Georgia - 11th; 27.5%
Kentucky - 7th; 28.4%
Louisiana - 4th; 29.5 %
Mississippi - 1st; 31.7% obese adults
Missouri - 13th; 27.4%
North Carolina -16th; 27.1%
Oklahoma - 8th; 28.1%
South Carolina - 5th; 29.2 %
Tennessee - 6th; 29.0%
Texas - 15th' 27.2%
Virginia - 27th; 25.2%
West Virginia - 2nd; 30.6%

*Rankings were based on a three-year average of state-by-state statistics for adult obesity percentages from the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI: kg/m2) of 30 or more.

http://www.uab.edu/