Bicycling our kids away from obesity
By Scott Bricker and Phillip Wu

This letter was published in the online edition of the Oregonian on Monday, August 17, 2009.

It's common knowledge that America is suffering from an obesity epidemic of seismic proportions. A report released last month by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has confirmed that more than two-thirds of all adults in the United States are overweight or obese.

Even more outstanding than the obesity rate of adults is the exponentially growing obesity rate in America's children. The past two decades have seen childhood obesity triple to more than 25 million children — 33 percent of our nation's youth. Obesity and related poor health in children can lead later in life to premature death and chronic diseases, increased health care costs, lost productivity and social stigmatization.

According to the U.S. surgeon general, obesity in children and adolescents is caused in large part by physical inactivity, and we now recognize that our "built environment" is a major contributor to this lack of physical activity.

Poor health in children can also be attributed to inadequate family and community relationships, poor nutrition and reduced air quality. The federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that "though many common pediatric conditions such as obesity, asthma, and lead poisoning as well as injuries, are associated with risk factors within a child's built environment this issue has received little attention from researchers or policymakers." The CDC has recently recommended that communities engage in strategies to encourage physical activity and limit sedentary activity among youth and to create safe communities — the built environment — that support physical activity.

To combat child obesity problems, community partnerships that include health care organizations should develop innovative programs in order to implement these strategies. One well-established initiative is the Safe Routes to School Partnership that is growing in popularity across the nation. SRTS programs are sustained efforts to improve the health and well-being of children by upgrading walking and biking conditions on routes to school, enabling and encouraging children to use them. The benefits of SRTS programs include better health in children, improved air quality, greater child attentiveness in school, decreased traffic, fewer car-related injuries, improved parent-child relationships and a greater sense of community .

In 2005, Portland began its first SRTS pilot program in collaboration with eight local schools and has since grown to encompass 25 elementary institutions. In addition to a successful SRTS program, Portland is also a leader in SRTS legislation, instrumental in helping Oregon become the first state in 2005 to pass a SRTS bill, establishing a statewide Safe Routes to School program helping communities increase bicycling and walking to school among children and families.

Due to its innovation in the Safe Routes To School movement and its reputation as the most bike-friendly city in the nation, Portland will host the second-ever SRTS national conference Wednesday through Friday of this week. The conference, sponsored and supported by Kaiser Permanente, will highlight the many ways that SRTS programs around the world are changing the habits of an entire generation of schoolchildren and putting thousands of families two steps ahead of health and environmental concerns.

Conference themes include transportation infrastructure and safety, health and evaluation, empowering youth and families, education and encouragement, and growing the SRTS movement. Standard 90-minute workshops, plenary speakers, walking, streetcar, and bicycle tours, 180-minute interactive training opportunities, hands-on events, discussion panels, and fun evening activities will all be offered during the conference. A one-day Pre-Conference Health Session, titled "Climate for Change: Creating Safe, Active Environments for our Children," will be presented by Kaiser Permanente on Tuesday.

It's time to fully explore the links between healthy environments and healthy kids.

Scott Bricker is executive director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in Portland. Philip Wu is a physician with the Department of Pediatrics in the Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region.

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