Obesity, Nutrition and Physical Activity
Obesity is second only to tobacco as a leading risk factor for cancer. Nearly 30 percent of cancers are attributable to obesity, including colon cancer, breast cancer and cancers of the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, uterus and kidney. Obese individuals have a 50 percent higher risk of dying from cancer than their healthy-weight counterparts. Read more.
That's why the American Cancer Society has made nutrition and physical activity a top priority.
Obesity rates are rising across the nation. More than 25 percent of Minnesota adults are obese and another 38 percent are overweight. Twenty-three percent of Minnesota children are obese.
Not only is this bad for health, it is expensive. Minnesota spent $1.3 billion to treat obesity-related disease in 2003. Nearly one-third of the increase in health care expenditures over the past decade can be attributed to increasing obesity rates. Read more.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network believes that everyone should be able to make healthy life choices about nutrition and physical activity by having easy.affordable and equitable access to information, healthy foods, and safe, convenient places for physical activity.
Our goal is to make the healthy choice the easy choice. During this legislative session, we ask that you join us in advocating for:
Safe Routes to School A bill to provide $3 million in bonding for infrastructure that will improve walking and biking access near elementary and middle schools has been introduced. HF 1429/ SF 1439 will be heard in Transporation and Capitol Improvement Committees. Please sign up to receive e-mail alerts so that you can take action. Read more about Safe Routes to School in Minnesota.
Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) SHIP provides local communities resources to combat obesity through policy changes to improve access to healthy food and increase spaces for physical activity. Although funding was cut substantially in 2011, SHIP continues to make progress. Read more about SHIP in your community.
Become a member of ACS CAN and you'll receive regular updates on these and other policies to prevent obesity.
