More than 14 million children and adolescents in the United States from ages 2 to 19 were affected by obesity from 2017 to 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When it comes to the impact of a student’s weight on their learning, the research is mixed, according to Dr. Keith Perrigan, superintendent of Bristol Virginia Public Schools.
“During my 27 years as a public-school educator, I have not noticed any anecdotal or specific data to help draw a conclusion,” Perrigan said.
According to the 2019 Virginia Youth Survey, 21.7% of high school students surveyed in Southwest Virginia were considered to be obese. Tennessee Department of Health data from the 2019-2020 school year shows an obesity rate of more than 22% among assessed public school students with rates of obese and overweight students peaking in middle school.
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Although Bristol Tennessee City Schools does not specifically track obesity’s connection to academic success, Liz Sumpter, school health coordinator for the system, said obesity and poor academic performance have been shown to be connected.
“When considering the factors that impact student learning, we take a whole-child approach,” Sumpter said. “We consider nutrition, physical activity, mental health, physical health, attendance, safety, and many other aspects of a child’s well-being. All these factors can impact a child’s ability to learn, and many of these can also be linked to obesity. For example, a child who is obese may suffer from mental health issues because of bullying.”
While Bristol Virginia educators teach students the state standards of health in the classroom environment, Kathy Hicks, director of school nutrition programs for BVPS, teaches students from the cafeteria line.
“We have certain federal policies under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which we are meeting, and some of those regulations are geared towards the correct number of calories, sodium and different vegetables [and nutrients],” Hicks said. “Anything we do in our meals is done to help reduce childhood obesity.”
In addition to its long history of work to reduce substance abuse and tobacco use among Virginia’s youth, the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth has worked to prevent childhood obesity since 2009. Through its grant program, the organization supports community efforts across Virginia that address childhood obesity.
“It certainly is a problem that needs to be taken seriously,” Michael Parsons, director of programs at VFHY, said. “Our focus with our grants is to try to support local initiatives that are trying to analyze and ultimately shift policies, systems and environments that make it easier to make the healthy choice for young people.”
While diet and exercise are well-known health factors, Parsons said it’s important to also look at other aspects of the obesity equation and consider whether certain settings are conducive to healthy choices.
“We are trying to take a look at the systems and the environments that kids experience to see how easy is it to make these choices,” Parsons said. “Most young people know that exercise is good, but if there’s no safe place to play in the neighborhood, then it becomes much more difficult to make the healthy choice.”
Obesity in kids can lead to complications like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels, Parsons said. According to nonprofit organization State of Childhood Obesity, there is an estimated $14 billion in health expenses related to childhood obesity annually in the United States.