Center for Health Transformation Georgia Project

Abnormal Lipids in Young People

A report released by the CDC in January of this year reports that twenty percent of young people aged 12-19 years in the U.S. have at least one abnormal lipid level.  Abnormal lipid levels are major risk factors for heart disease, the leading cause of death among adults in the U.S.

The report examined data for 1999–2006 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).  The survey is an ongoing study that explores the health and nutritional status of about 6000 participants each year.   The researchers analyzed measurements of the major types of fat that circulate in the body: LDL or low-density lipoprotein [“bad” cholesterol]; HDL or high density lipoprotein [“good” cholesterol]; and triglycerides, a type of fat that provides your body with energy.

The researchers found that young people who were overweight or obese were more likely to have one or more abnormal lipid levels compared to normal weight youth. One or more abnormal lipid levels were found in fourteen percent of normal weight youth, 22 percent of overweight youth, and 43 percent of obese youth.

This is yet another report supporting the need to improve the health of our children. 

Obesity is Now as Big a Threat to Health as Smoking

A study reported last week in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine concluded that America's obesity epidemic has become as big a threat to our health as smoking.  Researchers from Columbia University and the City College of New York reported that their calculation of health loss from obesity [measured in Quality-Adjusted Health Years] is now equal to, if not greater than, those lost from smoking.  Smoking was found to have a bigger impact on death while obesity has a bigger impact on illness.  The findings are based on a national health survey of 3.5 million U.S. adults.

This study reinforces our need to focus on the solutions to decreasing the obesity epidemic in America.  The cost of obesity in quality of life, productivity, and dollars is something that we can change.  We will continue to highlight successful solutions to the obesity epidemic. 

Healthy Holidays

  
   

As the holiday season is in full swing there are some great ideas to making this a healthy one.  The weight gain that many experience over the December holidays can be averted by making a few changes to old habits and traditions.  Try a few of theses suggestions: [1] include healthy alternatives in your holiday meals; [2] indulge a day or so over the holidays but don't use the 'season' as an excuse to make it a continuous behavior; [3] add a few healthy traditions such as a family walk after the holiday dinner; [4] try to cut some of the sugar and fat from your recipes where possible; [5] add a few healthier desserts to the table; [6] serve desserts in the 'mini-indulgent' style of many of the restaurants - a few bites of something sweet after dinner is sometimes enough.

Sustaining Healthy Community Initiatives

At a recent meeting I attended there was much discussion on healthy community initiatives.  Many of the attendees had been directly involved in local programs with the goal of improving the health of the citizens.  The programs discussed included broad based initiatives that resulted in walking paths being built, menus at local restaurants being changed to healthier choices, and changes at the schools to improve food choices and increase physical activity.  The discussion turned to the problem of sustaining community initiatives.  Programs are usually launched with great energy and initial involvement.  What makes one program thrive and another lose momentum and die? 

Some of these answers can be found in The Art of Transformation by Newt Gingrich and Nancy Desmond.  Applying the 21st Century Implementation Model  [pp. 131- 133] we find that the community initiatives can be seen more as a migration to a healthier future than as a leap or organized march.  Key to this migration is creating a sense of urgency, communicating the vision of a better future, and accelerating the citizen's awareness of, support for, and adoption of specific solutions that move toward that healthier future.  Also needed is a growing number of key allies and leaders committed to the plan at a level beyond just moving in the same direction.  This is the group that will provide the leadership for the community initiative as it grows.  This group must have a much greater level of cohesiveness, integration, networking, and formal structure than the larger, more loosely connected movement.

To implement the plan, there must be an organization or an alliance dedicated to it.  Continuous change is required.  The structures must be flexible and decentralized.  Metrics must be centralized, implementation must be decentralized. 

Success of the Vitality Project in Albert Lea, MN

The Vitality Project in Albert Lea, MN came to it's official end on Tuesday evening.  A project spearheaded by Dan Buetter, founder of Blue Zones and supported by AARP and United Health Foundation, the project focused on changing the health of a community through a 6 week intensive application of those principles found to increase longevity.

Some of the successes of the project included the following: 2,300 people officially participated; a walking/biking trail was completed around Fountain Lake; thousands of feet of sidewalk were added; hundreds of kids walked to school in walking school buses and more than 600 citizens joined walking groups; nearly a thousand Albert Leans took part in purpose workshops; and two-thirds of locally owned restaurants added longevity-promoting foods to their menus.

For additional information on the community project in Albert Lea, MN visit:

Good Morning America

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/VitalityProject/vitality-project-make-town-healthier/story?id=8818625

 

Front page story in the Pioneer Press

www.pioneerpress.com

 

AP story –

www.associatedpress.com

The Vitality Project provides an excellent model for other communities as they begin the journey to transform the health of their citizens.

Five Pounds of Fat

When I was at the launch of the Fayette Healthy Community Partnership I stopped by one of the exhibits at the Kroger store and spoke with Denise Bennett, Diabetes Education Coordinator at Piedmont Fayette Hospital.  Denise was educating the community on nutrition.  Her table was scattered with rubber models of food items, showing healthy choices and healthy portions.  Next to the fake food items was something that caught my eye - a rubber model of a glob of human fat - five pounds to be exact. 

Denise Bennett, Diabetes Education Coordinator at Piedmont Fayette Hospital
with the model of five pounds of fat.

I was surprised at how much volume five pounds of fat actually is. Having been hooked on "The Biggest Loser" show this past season and seeing dramatic weight loss I began underestimating the impact of losing 1 to 2 pounds a week.  That slow, steady pace had worked for me but somehow I lost that message.  We tend to set weight loss goals that set us up for failure.  Losing weight when one is overweight, even modest amounts, has a positive impact.  Studies show that if overweight individuals with diabetes loses 5% to 10% of their weight, they will significantly reduce their blood sugar.  Weight loss can also lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

Appreciate the impact a few pounds of weight loss a week can have, how this steady pace can add up to a significant change in your health status, and stay the course.

Know Your Numbers!

I attended the launch of a new '21st Century Healthy Community' project recently in Fayette County, Georgia.  The Fayette Healthy Community Partnership is a collaboration of health care provider organizations, employers, retailers, and other businesses and groups brought together by locals Daye Bexley and Terry Womack to promote health and wellness in Fayette and Coweta Counties.  Leaders of the Partnership include the Piedmont Fayette and Newnan Hospitals and the Piedmont Heart Institute, Kroger Stores and Pharmacies, the Center for Health Transformation, and Novo Nordisk.

One of the highlights of the launch was the health screening and education held at the local Kroger Store.  Screening included Body Mass Index, blood pressure, blood sugar, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, Triglycerides and percent body fat.  A 'Heart Health Scorecard' was provided by Piedmont Heart Institute, the Center for Health Transformation, and the Piedmont Fayette and Piedmont Newnan Hospitals.  If every individual knew these numbers, what they meant and simple steps to improving them we would make progress in improving the health of our nation. 

Initiatives such as these are key to better health at lower cost.  Visit the Center for Health Transformation website to learn more about '21st Century Healthy Community Initiatives.'

Blue Zones

My friends at Healthways introduced me to a book and movement on adding healthy years to our lives. The book, The Blue Zones: Lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest, is by Dan Buettner.  Dan is the founder of Blue Zones, an organization that helps Americans live longer, healthier lives.  The book is an amazing journey with Dan and his team as they learn from Centenarians from areas of the world with concentrations of the longest living people.  These areas, called Blue Zones, are found in Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, California; and the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica.

The book concludes with the nine lessons of the Blue Zones - the world's best practices in health and longevity.  The chapter is filled with practical strategies for applying these lessons.  Applying just a few of them will certainly improve one's health.

The Blue Zones website contains a tool - the Vitality Compass - that calculates your potential life expectancy, your healthy life expectancy, the number of extra years you could gain if you optimize your lifestyle, and suggestions to help you with that plan.

I'd be interested in your thoughts about the book and website.  I found the book an interesting read - one that is hard to put down.  It was full of funny and heartwarming stories and of health and longevity information that I put to immediate use.  Applying lessons from the Blue Zones definitely would improve the health of our communities - and who know, perhaps we could turn the tide and create a few more Blue Zones in America with future generations.

As a follow up to the Microsoft HealthVault project "Be Well Columbus, Georgia" a video has been posted on the Microsoft HealthVault website highlighting the project.  Columbus, Georgia joins other health stories on the Microsoft website that embody Microsoft's vision to improve health around the world through software innovation.  Congratulations to the Columbus Research Foundation for leading this effort and getting Georgia 'on the map!'

State Obesity Rankings Available and the News Isn't Good

The latest state obesity rankings are available in a report released today by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Georgia's adult obesity rate is 27.9% with a state ranking of 14.  The rate of obese and overweight children in Georgia is 37.3% with a state ranking of 3.

The percentage of obese or overweight children is at or above 30 percent in 30 states.  Mississippi had the highest rate of obese and overweight children at 44.4 percent. Minnesota and Utah had the lowest rate at 23.1 percent.

Recommendations from the report, F as in Fat:  How Obesity Policies are Failing America 2009, include providing health foods and beverages to students at school; increasing the availability of affordable healthy foods in all communities; and increasing the frequency, intensity and duration of physical activity at school.

We would like to hear about community projects that are successfully addressing obesity.  What are the characteristics of healthy communities?  How do we change the current culture to one of health?