Rural communities are now experiencing higher rates of obesity and overweight than urban areas. Rural residents tend to eat diets higher in fat and calories, exercise less, and watch more television, all of which can contribute to unhealthy weight gain. Adding to the challenge, rural communities face barriers to addressing obesity, such as higher poverty levels, less access to settings, foods, and services that facilitate physical activity and healthy eating, and limited school
resources to provide nutrition education and physical education.
Source:
Frequently Asked Questions
Tools
Action for Healthy Kids: Resources to Improve Schools
Database
Searchable database of successful school-based interventions, policies, programs and practices that improve children's health and readiness to learn through better nutrition and physical activity.
CDC: Overweight and Obesity
Web site
Overview of overweight and obesity issues. Addresses topics including obesity trends, health consequences, economic consequences and more. Includes links to a variety of resources on obesity.
FastStats: Obesity and Overweight
Web site
Basic statistics on overweight and obesity rates, with links to more detailed data.
Healthy Weight
Web site
Resources and information about achieving and maintaining a healthy weight as part of an ongoing lifestyle.
Knowledge Path: Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents
Web site
Provides a selection of current, high-quality resources about the identification, prevention, management, and treatment of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.
Let's Move
Web site
Goal is to give parents the support they need, provide healthier food in schools, help kids be more physically active, and make healthy, affordable food available in every part of our country.
MedlinePlus: Obesity
Web site
News, publications and resources addressing the topic of obesity.
MyPlate (Previously MyPyramid)
Web site
Helps in choosing proper foods and amounts by providing an estimate of what and how much is needed to eat based on age, gender, and activity level.
Rural Health Research: Obesity
Web site
Provides summaries of current and completed rural health research projects and related publications addressing the topic of obesity, produced by the Office of Rural Health Policy's funded rural health research centers.
Regulations, Forms & Other Useful Documents
Around the Country: Illinois Programs Offer Diabetic and Overweight Patients a Fresh Start
Author(s): Candi Helseth
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Highlights patients at Kirby Medical Group in Monticello, Illinois, who are losing weight and lowering their need for insulin.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 08 / 2011
Balance: A Report on State Action to Promote Nutrition, Increase Physical Activity and Prevent Obesity
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Addresses the obesity epidemic in America, with an urban and rural comparison.
Date: 2006
Confronting America’s Childhood Obesity Epidemic: How the Health Care Reform Law Will Help Prevent and Reduce Obesity
Author(s): Ellen-Marie Whelan, Lesley Russell, Sonia Sekhar
Sponsoring organization: Center for American Progress
Summarizes statistics involving childhood obesity and outlines provisions from the new health care reform law that can help reverse the obesity epidemic. Describes Community Transformation Grants and how they apply to rural and frontier areas.
Date: 05 / 2010
Diet, Physical Activity, and Sedentary Behaviors as Risk Factors for Childhood Obesity: An Urban and Rural Comparison (Final Report)
Author(s): Jihong Liu, Sonya J. Jones, Han Sun, Janice C. Probst, Philip Cavicchia
Sponsoring organization: South Carolina Rural Health Research Center
Reports that in 1999-2006, 30.9% of United States children aged 2-19 years old were overweight and 15.9% of them were obese. A greater proportion of rural children were overweight than those living in urban areas. Similarly, the overall prevalence of obesity was higher among rural than urban children.
Date: 11 / 2010
Hunger and Obesity: Understanding a Food Insecurity Paradigm: Workshop Summary
Sponsoring organization: Institute of Medicine
Presents the results from a workshop, held November 16-18-2010, which explored the relationship between food insecurity and obesity, and a variety of groups, including the rural population.
Date: 2011
Intervention Programs Target Childhood Chronic Disease
Author(s): Candi Helseth
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Highlights health intervention programs, such as the CARDIAC Project in West Virginia, who are using school screenings to identify children at-risk for heart disease and diabetes.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor Volume 2011 Issue Winter
Date: 02 / 2011
Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity (Full Report)
Sponsoring organization: Institute of Medicine
First in a series of publications dedicated to providing brief, succinct information on childhood obesity prevention specifically for policy makers. Includes statistics and examples of successful programs specific to rural America.
Date: 09 / 2009
Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity (Report Brief)
Sponsoring organization: Institute of Medicine
Summarizes report on strategies that local governments can take to help combat and prevent obesity among children and adolescents.
Date: 09 / 2009
Obesity in Rural Communities
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
Chapter from the 2005 Report to the Secretary: Rural Health and Human Services Issues. Discusses the impact of the obesity epidemic on rural communities. Includes a brief overview of food insecurity in rural areas.
Date: 04 / 2005
Obesity Prevalence Among Low-Income, Preschool-Aged Children — United States, 1998–2008
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Shows the prevalence of obesity among low-income, preschool-aged children by state, territory, Indian tribal organization, and race/ethnicity.
Date: 07 / 2009
Overweight and Obesity in the South: Prevalence and Related Health Care Costs Among Population Groups
Author(s): Jerome R. Kolbo, Amal J. Khoury, Wendy Bounds, Jacquelyn Lee
Sponsoring organization: Southern Rural Development Center
Results of a study used to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Southern regions. Displays data by age, gender, race/ethnicity, income, and education level.
Journal citation: Food Assistance of the South Issue 13
Date: 07 / 2007
Overweight and Physical Activity Among Children: A Portrait of States and the Nation, 2005
Sponsoring organization: Health Resources and Services Administration
Provides national and state-level data on children related to overweight, physical activity, and family and neighborhood factors that influence physical activity. Based on findings from the National Survey of Children's Health.
Date: 2005
Overweight and Physical Inactivity among Rural Children Aged 10-17: A National and State Portrait (Fact Sheet)
Sponsoring organization: South Carolina Rural Health Research Center
Brief overview obesity and overweight, physical activity, and weight-related behaviors among rural and urban children.
Date: 2007
Price is Right: Economics and the Rise in Obesity
Author(s): Jayachandran N. Variyam
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
Discusses the increase in obesity and how it relates to economic factors such as declining food prices and increasing cost of leisure activities.
Journal citation: Amber Waves
Date: 02 / 2005
School-Based Programs Help Children Shape Up
Author(s): Candi Helseth
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Highlights schools who are working nutrition education and increased physical activity into their curriculums in an effort to combat childhood obesity.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor Volume 2011 Issue Winter
Date: 02 / 2011
What Leads to Obesity in Rural Communities?
Describes the results of a study examining the link between obesity and the environmental factors in rural communities.
Date: 07 / 2006
Organizations
Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK)
Nonprofit/Foundation
Nationwide initiative dedicated to improving the health and educational performance of children through better nutrition and physical activity in schools. Provides tools and resources to support healthy schools.
American Dietetic Association (ADA)
National organization
ADA is the nation's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. ADA serves the public by promoting optimal nutrition, health and well-being. ADA members are the nation's food and nutrition experts, translating the science of nutrition into practical solutions for healthy living.
Obesity Society
National organization
Promotes research, education and advocacy to better understand, prevent, and treat obesity and improve the lives of those affected.
Terms & Acronyms
Body Mass Index (BMI) A measure of body weight relative to height. BMI can be used to determine if people are at a healthy weight, overweight, or obese.
Obesity Having too much body fat. An adult with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher is considered obese.
Overweight Being too heavy for your height, age and build. An adult with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 30 is considered overweight.
Article Searches & Bibliographies
RAC Document Search: Obesity
PubMed Search: Rural Obesity and Rural Health Services
Searches PubMed's collection of journal article citations with abstracts for items related to this topic and published in the United States.
Some citations link to the full text of articles through PubMed Central, through your library’s electronic and print holdings, or through the journal's publisher. The first two provide free access; the latter may require payment. Check with your local library for details or call your Regional Medical Library at 800.338.7657.
|
