This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

For the first time, Utah children risk having a shorter life expectancy than their parents, due to rising rates of obesity and associated complications. More than half of adult Utahns are overweight or obese. In 2009, 671,144 adults were overweight and 481,051 were obese, equal to 1.1 million Utahns.

This is greater than the entire population of Montana. You could fill Rice Eccles Stadium, the E-Center, and Energy Solutions arena over 15 times with this number of overweight or obese Utah adults.

The consequences of obesity are costly and concerning. Obesity costs Utahns about $400 million every year in direct health care costs. Obese adults are at increased risk for diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, stroke, depression, dementia, cancer, even death. Obese pregnant women are at increased risk for gestational diabetes, cesarean section, delivery complications, and postpartum depression.

Even more concerning is the fact that greater than one in five elementary age Utah children are overweight or obese. Obese children are at increased risk for health problems previously seen only in adults, such as type II diabetes, elevated blood pressure and cholesterol, and gall bladder and liver disease. They are also more likely to develop irregular menstrual periods, joint problems, and asthma, and to experience social problems, a lack of confidence, decreased energy and lower academic performance.

Efforts are being initiated to improve the health and obesity rates of Utahns through a joint committee from the Utah Medical Association and the Utah Physical Activity and Nutrition Organization. We want to shift the mind-set from treating obesity-related diseases to preventing them through living a healthy lifestyle.

One initiative is to introduce Utahns to the 5-2-1-0 program, which encourages consuming at least five fruits and vegetable servings per day, limiting recreational screen time (TV, computer, video games, etc) to two hours per day, exercising one hour per day, and consuming no sugar-sweetened beverages.

It's time for all of us to act, and act quickly. The 5-2-1-0 message has been successfully adopted by community and health care organizations in Maine as a strategy to educate parents and their children about healthy lifestyle choices. As clinicians, we urge policy makers, teachers, health care professionals, and parents to promote 5-2-1-0 in Utah in the classroom, the clinic and at home.

In addition, we must make efforts to improve our communities by supporting the development of safe "walkable" communities. We need to increase opportunities for activity at work through policy changes in the workplace. Effort should be made to support consumption of water and low-fat milk instead of sugar-sweetened beverages such as soda and sports drinks. Smaller food portions and reduced consumption of high calorie and pre-packaged foods should be encouraged.

Schools need our support to increase physical activity opportunities, ideally 150 minutes per week, and to make healthy choices easier.

Finally, families need to create a culture of activity in their households. The most important influence on a child's physical activity is his or her parent's physical activity. We urge everyone to consider how to change his or her lifestyle to be more active and healthier.

The prevention of obesity is everyone's responsibility. To succeed we will need to implement changes in our environment and in our policies, integrating efforts between health care, schools, work place, and childcare settings. We must prioritize these efforts for the future of our children and grandchildren.

Elizabeth A. Joy, associate professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine, is senior outcomes researcher for Intermountain Health Care. These professors and physicians are also signatories: Dot Verbrugge, Ross Hightower, Nicole Mihalopolous.