Cape obesity summit to focus on solutions

Missourians associate overeating with fun. They delight in ordering the next size up for only a few cents more. They're just as likely to eat something from a restaurant's kitchen as their own.

And that's why more than half of them are overweight and more than a fifth are obese and likely to suffer the health consequences. The number is rising steadily, according to a Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services report due out this week.

Missouri ranks 10th in the nation in number of obese residents, and the public health consequences are legion, say the report's authors. It will be released at Tuesday's obesity summit at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.

The event was marketed to local health professionals, and 100 of them -- the limit for enrollment -- quickly signed up.

One of the scheduled speakers, Rita Reeder, a registered dietitian in the department's Bureau of Chronic Disease Control, said the state has to stop treating obesity as a cosmetic problem and start treating it as a health issue. That means shifting priorities.

"In the past we told someone, 'Here's what you do to lose weight,' and then we put them right back in their environment," she said. "There are some barriers we haven't looked at closely enough. We've relied on the individual to have willpower."

Some of those barriers are limited access to healthy food and places to exercise. Some neighborhoods lack sidewalks and decent lighting. Sixty-five percent of married women work, making it difficult for them to prepare healthy meals at the end of the day.

The summit will focus on solutions. Reeder said she is helping set up health programs through St. Louis churches. The Bureau of Chronic Disease Control is trying to promote healthy eating and exercise through communities -- which can build or improve exercise trails -- businesses and schools.

Nancy Mosley, a pediatric nurse practitioner in the Cape Girardeau County Rural Health Clinic, said she sees obese children with hypertension and type II diabetes, the kind that typically develops in adults.

If nothing changes, the children become adults with serious problems. The state report said obese individuals are 65 percent more likely to have arthritis, 83 percent more likely to have heart disease and also commonly suffer from high blood pressure.

Mosley said she and her coworkers are working to prevent that eventuality.

"We're looking at some things to motivate kids," Mosley said. "South Cape is a difficult area to get anything into, and our patients don't have transportation."

Free copies of the report will be available after Tuesday by calling the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services at (800) 316-0935.