Which Hudson Valley Schools Have Dangerously Overweight Students?

New York State data shows that there are some school districts in our area with an alarming number of children who are either overweight or obese.  According to the New York State Department of Health, the number of children who are obese in NY state has tripled over the past three decades. After tobacco use, obesity is the 2nd leading cause of preventable death in the country.  Overweight children are also more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, several forms of cancer, asthma and according to a recent CNN report, early puberty.  For obese children, early puberty is a major concern because it has been shown to lead to substance abuse, depression, anxiety and even a greater risk of breast cancer for young girls.

Records from the NYSDH starting in 2010, show that several Hudson Valley school districts have an alarming number of overweight children. According to JAMA the average number of children classified as obese in America is just above 17%.  Here in the Hudson Valley, 27.7% of the middle school and high school students in the City of Poughkeepsie are classified as obese, with another 19.5% being overweight.  Northeast School District has a total of 26.4% of their students labeled as obese.  As seen in the chart below, Tuxedo, Port Jervis, Hyde Park, Ellenville, Dover, Middletown, Kingston and Saugerties all rank with the highest percentage of obese children in our area, far above the 17% national average.

On the bottom of the results, the healthiest schoolchildren in the Hudson Valley seem to be Warwick Valley Elementary students, with only 6.8% obese and 11% overweight.  Other school districts below the national average include Chester, Greenwood Lake, Goshen, Tuxedo and Pawling.

New York's Healthy Schools New York program provides technical assistance and resources to 180 school districts to establish healthful eating environments and daily physical activity opportunities, including physical education, for students of all abilities. Unfortunately, looking at the statistics in our area, it seems that more still needs to be done.

After reading this article are you concerned about the childhood obesity epidemic in the Hudson Valley?  What do you think we should do about it?