Rising levels of obesity among young people in Wisconsin may have their roots in common college behavior. If left unchecked, a \typical"" college diet of daily gorging on frozen pizzas and binge drinking lays the groundwork for obesity later in life, according to Scott Spear, University Health Services director of clinical services.
Wisconsin has a plan to curb this trend. Known as ""Healthiest Wisconsin 2010,"" the plan will enter phase two at the beginning of next year. Through education policy and grassroots advocacy, the state hopes to reduce the proportion of Wisconsin adults who are obese from 20 to 10 percent by 2010.
The proportion of the adult Wisconsin population which is obese rose by nearly one third from 1991 to 1998, from 12.7 percent to 17.9 percent, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. The 2001 Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey reports that 10 percent of adolescents (12-19 years) were obese. And health problems associated with obesity are also on the rise among young adults in Wisconsin, including diabetes.
But ""Healthiest Wisconsin 2010"" seems to have had little impact at the college level. College students have not been a priority because they are less at risk and also due to a weak state budget, Spear said.
""Whether they should be,"" said Spear, ""Is another question. ... Absolutely [they should].""
And Margaret Schmelzer, the state's health plan and public health policy officer, said the university should reassess its relationship with the state in trying to educate college students about the causes of obesity.
""We have to ask ourselves at the UW, 'OK, since we have been partners in this plan, what are we doing? What do we know about the health status of students at the UW? ... Are there venues in which to provide education and training to students?'"" she said.
The university does have some programs and grants to deal with nutritional policy implementation, but Schmelzer said a massive change is necessary in the way the government addresses health policy. The categorical approach, she said--in which the government focuses on specific issues like obesity, diabetes, etc.-should be replaced by one that focuses on preventing behaviors.
""Refocusing [health policy] on working on the underlying causes of illness ... is like taking a huge battleship or huge ocean liner and turning it,"" Schmelzer said.
Some question, however, if curbing obesity should even be a priority. Steven Blair, a health researcher and the president of the Cooper Institute in Dallas, spoke Wednesday to nutritionists at UW-Madison and noted ""fitness,"" not ""fatness,"" should take precedence.
""Obesity isn't as big a problem as most people think,"" he said. ""If you're obese and fit ... you're not at risk. It's the risk factors.""
These factors include inactivity, high blood pressure, high fasting glucose and low HDL cholesterol. As little as a half hour of walking every day counts as ""fitness"" and is sufficient to prevent weight gain.
And if you are obese and fit, your mortality rate is about one-fifth that of a thin, but unfit, person.
""Do only fat people die? No! This ... has been grossly blown out of proportion,"" Blair maintained.
Spear said for those college students who are at risk for obesity through genes or inactivity, it takes more planning to prevent the onset of weight gain. Eating with friends instead of alone, for instance, has been shown to decrease food intake at meals. Decreasing portion sizes as well as consumption of corn sweeteners (like in soda) also help.
""Focusing on the eating and being aware of what you're eating are healthy things to do,"" Spear said.
