Live Smart Texas Newsletter, Spring 2016

Whether you are a new member or a returning long time member of Live Smart Texas, we say welcome or welcome back! Live Smart Texas was formed in 2007 to reduce the burden of obesity through a convergence of social, political, economic, and programmatic interests.

Our coalition and the various partnerships which result from working together are positioned to help identify and disseminate evidence-based strategies in schools, workplaces, and community settings. If Texas is going to capitalize upon previous successes and continue to make headway against the rising statewide obesity tide, we need to take smart and deliberate steps. We all need to roll up our sleeves as we start this new decade with Live Smart Texas --if we are truly to make a difference in the state's obesity epidemic.

At Live Smart Texas, our members have always shared the belief that collaborations can achieve better outcomes than individual entities working on their own, a guiding principle that still holds true today as it did back in 2007.

This next decade adds a new dimension: a regional focus to Live Smart Texas' organizational structure. Why? We recognize the complexity of the public health issue and that there are geographic differences and challenges associated with health outcomes in a state this size, and that is why we have recruited regional representatives for all eight of Texas' Health Service Regions.

The regional reps will provide program, research, policy and funding updates for their region to the Steering Committee, as well as bring forward issues from their region that need further research or resources. To learn how to participate in your region please contact your representative listed below or visit www.livesmarttexas.org

The CATCH program in Ysleta ISD saw a 53% increase in MVPA during PE for elementary school children. Thanks to a grant from the Blue Cross Blue shield of Texas, the district has partnered with the CATCH Global Foundation to add CATCH to the district's 37 schools, impacting over 18,500 students in the El Paso area.

The first phase included implementing CATCH in 14 schools, and to learn more about the phase one results click here .

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Mission: Readiness, a nonprofit, nonpartisan national security organization working to improve the health of children, has published their state report for Texas called, Too Fat, Frail, and Out-of-Breath to Fight. The report describes health issues affecting school children in Texas, along with solutions to address the obesity epidemic in our state.

Click here to read the entire report and learn more about how Mission: Readiness is working to create a healthier environment for Texas children.

The Texas Health Champion Award nomination period will open in June. Each year, the Texas Health Champion Award is presented to public health leaders and organizations who have demonstrated exemplary achievement in reducing the burden and/or raising awareness of the obesity epidemic in Texas. Visit texasobesityweek.org for more information.

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Healthy Texas combines the expertise of the Texas A&M Health Science Center with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service's one-of-a-kind, statewide reach to promote preventive health at the most local level of the community, improving the well-being of Texans for generations to come. "Healthy South Texas," the pilot program of Healthy Texas, is a novel effort to reduce the highest impact diseases and their consequences, including diabetes, asthma and infectious disease, throughout a 27-county region in South Texas. This comprehensive, multi-disciplinary team engages families, enhances education, promotes behavior change, and improves quality of medical care and health outcomes. Learn more at http://healthytexas.tamu.edu

The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) recently unveiled the latest data on overweight/obesity and diabetes in Bexar County. During National Public Health Week, Metro Health released two new data fact sheets titled Overweight & Obesity in Bexar County 2014 and Diabetes in Bexar County 2014. These new fact sheets provide a summary of the latest Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The data shows that more than 32 percent of adults in Bexar County are obese. This is a slight decrease from 35 percent in 2013. However, if combined, overweight and obese adults reach 71 percent of the adult population.

Read on >>

Texas Data

Cardiometabolic Risk Factors among Severely Obese Children and Adolescents in the United States, 1999-2012.

(Li L, Pérez A, Wu LT, Ranjit N, Brown HS, Kelder SH; Child Obesity; 2016)

Low-income immigrant Hispanic mothers' concerns and perceptions of their young child's weight

(Hernandez DC, Reesor L, Machuca I, Chishty M, Alonso Y; Public Health Nursing; 2016)

Using family-focused garden, nutrition, and physical activity programs to reduce childhood obesity: The Texas! Go! Eat! Grow! pilot study

(Spears-Lanoix EC, McKyer EL, Evans A, McIntosh WA, Ory M, Whittlesey L, Kirk A, Hoelscher DM, Warren JL; Child Obesity; 2015)

Latino mothers' cumulative food insecurity exposure and child body composition

(Hernandez DC; American Journal of Health Behavior; 2016)

A contextual look a safe routes to school implementation in Texas

(Atteberry H, Dowdy D, Oluyomi A, Nichols D, Ory MG, & Hoelscher DM; Environment & Behavior; 2016)

Effects of Funding Allocation for Safe Routes to School Programs on Active Commuting to School and Related Behavioral, Knowledge, and Psychosocial Outcomes: Results From the Texas Childhood Obesity Prevention Policy Evaluation (T-COPPE) Study

(Hoelscher DM, Ory MG, Dowdy D, Miao J, Atteberry H, Nichols D, Evans A, Menendez T, Lee C, & Wang S; Environment & Behavior; 2016)

Impact of a mobile phone intervention to reduce sedentary behavior in a community sample of adults: a quasi-experimental evaluation

(Kendzor DE, Shuval K, Gabriel KP, Businelle MS, Ma P, High RR, Cuate EL, Poonawalla IB, Rios DM, Demark-Wahnefried W, Swartz MD, Wetter DW; Journal of Medical Internet Research; 2016)

Efficacy of the Lunch is in the Bag intervention to increase parents' packing of healthy sack lunches for young children: a cluster-randomized trial in early care and education centers

(Roberts-Gray C, Briley M, Ranjit N, Byrd-Williams C, Sweitzer SJ, Sharma SV, Romo-Palafox M, Hoelscher DM; International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity; 2016)

Evaluating the influence of the revised special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC) food allocation package on healthy food availability, accessibility and affordability in Texas

(Lu W, McKyer EL, Dowdy D, Evans A, Ory M, Hoelscher DM, Wang S, Miao J; Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; 2016)

Other Relevant Research

Prevalence of obesity and server obesity in US children, 1999-2014

(Skinner AC, Perrin EM, Skelton JA; Obesity; 2016)

An international perspective on the nexus of physical activity research and policy

(Pratt M, Salvo D, Cavill N, Giles-Corti B, McCue P, Reis RS, Juaregui A, Foster C; Environment and Behavior; 2016)

Region 1: Dr. Theresa Byrd, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center ([email protected])

Region 2/3:

Sonia White, Community Council of Greater Dallas ( [email protected])

Region 4/5N: Marshall Kratz, East Texas Area Health Education Center ([email protected])

Region 6/5S: Katie Chennisi, Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services ([email protected])

Region 7: Michael Lopez, Texas AgriLife Extension ([email protected]) and Kristen Nussa, IT'S TIME TEXAS ([email protected])

Region 8: Kathy Shields, San Antonio Metropolitan Health District ([email protected]

Region 9/10: Dr. Leah Whigham, Paso del Norte Institute for Healthy Living ([email protected])

Region 11: Dr. Belinda Reininger, UTSPH Brownsville ([email protected])