Two state legislators from Laurinburg have been tapped to tackle a problem weighing on the youth of North Carolina – childhood obesity.

Rep. Doug Yongue, a retired educator, and Sen. Bill Purcell, a licensed doctor, are hoping to use their backgrounds to find realistic solutions as co-chairmen of the Legislative Task Force on Childhood Obesity .

"Childhood obesity is a major problem in North Carolina with probably a third of our kids being obese," Purcell said. "We are going to look and see what specific things we can do to have an affect on this."

"I've been working for probably six or seven years to get a study where we could look at the overweight and obesity problems," Yongue said. "When you compare the United States with other countries, like Denmark, China, India and Singapore, they practically no problems and the children are healthy. In the United States, about a third of our younger population is obese and approximately the same percentage on the verge of being overweight. It is just a serious problem that is running the healthcare costs up and type II diabetes is at epidemic stage with children. The list goes on and on."

The two Democrats are looking at several options, from better food to better lifestyles, as possible solutions.

"One thing we are looking at is having healthier foods in our cafeteria," Purcell said "It's more expensive so we'd have to figure out a way to pay for it. Fresh fruits and vegetables cost more than what they are serving now."

"We're going to have to put more emphasis on child nutrition, starting with our public schools and the general population," Yongue said. "We are not going to isolate to just young people, we want to look at the overall population."

"There are many, many things we can do," Yongue said. "You take where I live over on Prince Street in front of Park Circle. We have a track over there that I can go out and get my paper in the morning in the dark and the cold and there are people walking around that track early in the morning and they walk on it all day long."

"I've actually witnessed people that were overweight that started that walking progress and have slimmed down," Yongue said. "Its just a matter of mind set and exercising and eating right. We want to sell this and we are going to involve everyone we can involve. The fast-food restaurants and everyone else."

Purcell says he's ready to role up his sleeve and get started.

"We've got the staff and the committee yet so it will probably be in the next few weeks."

Andy Cagle, community schools coordinator for Scotland County Schools, says the system is supportive of any effort to make children healthier.

"It is a major health crisis that our young people are facing," Cagle said. "Any steps to combat childhood obesity are steps in the right directions."

Cagle said the schools already have taken some steps towards helping students make healthy life choices, like emphasizing physical education and providing meals that meet both U.S. Department of Agriculture and N.C. Department of Public Instruction standards.

Health risks of obesity

Obesity is a condition affecting many residents in Scotland County and is the number one health problem in children, according to Kathie Cox, health educator and healthy Carolinians coordinator for the Scotland County Health Department.

In Scotland County and the surrounding region, two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese.

The 2007 North Carolina Child Health Report Card states in 2008, 15.4 percent of children ages two to four, 25.7 percent of children ages five to 11, and 28.5 percent of children ages 12 to 18 are overweight, which is an increase of more than two percent since 2002.

Overweight and obesity continue to worsen at an alarming rate, according to Kathie Cox, health educator and healthy Carolinians coordinator for the Scotland County Health Department.

Nearly one in four children in North Carolina ages two to 18 are overweight, compared to one in five in 2002, Cox said. If the obesity rate continues to climb at its present rate, it will soon become the costliest disease, surpassing cardiovascular diseases.

Lack of exercise and poor diets are both major factors in obesity and improving both will play an important role in the prevention of childhood obesity, Cox said. Poor nutrition and lack of physical activity are associated with an increased risk of chronic health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, and high blood pressure.

The North Carolina Child Health Report Card 2009 reported only 44.3 percent of high schoolers were physically active for 60 minutes or more a day for at least five days a week.

“Children need to begin learning healthy habits including good nutrition and physical activity at a very young age through their parents and the community" Cox said. "Children need to understand at an early age what the potential consequences are if they don’t lead a healthy lifestyle. It’s up to us to teach them because we all want our children to grow up healthy and happy.”

She said the county is fortunate to have existing resources or programs such as the “Winner’s Circle” program, “Active Recess for Scots”, Cooperative Extension’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program for youth and adults, the “Lunch & Learn Healthy Lifestyles” Program through Healthy Carolinians and others such as Weight Watchers and Take Off Pounds Sensibly available to address nutrition and obesity.

Scotland County Parks and Recreation also has sixteen area parks along with athletic and summer programs for youth age 5 to 15 reaching more 3,000 youth, senior games and exercise classes.