Food consumption, activity, and overweight among elementary school children in an Appalachian Kentucky community

In the U.S., child overweight is on the rise and is implicated in later adu lt chronic illness. Given that overweight is hardly tractable, prevention a s compared to treatment is seen as a better alternative for lowering the ri sk of long-term health consequences. To increase the success of prevention efforts, many argue that programs must be "culturally sensitive" and target ed toward specific populations at greater risk. However, there exists a lim ited understanding of how overweight is distributed across the landscape, a mong and within populations and groups. This paper reports the prevalence o f overweight among 54 school children in a rural, Appalachian community wit h a high rate of poverty, and it compares boys to girls. Thirty-seven perce nt of boys and 10.3% of girls are overweight, based on the 90th percentile body mass index (BMI). Analysis of food intake indicates a pattern of food consumption that is high in fatty and sugary foods and low in fruit and veg etable consumption. Analysis of activity indicates that children report mor e low-intensity activity than high; that overweight children report more ep isodes of video/computer play compared to nonoverweight children; and that boys spend more time than girls in front of the computer/television screen. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.