Fast Food

• There is not enough space for physical activity or a means to obtain a healthy diet.

There are lots of fast-food outlets and people who rely on sugar-sweetened drinks as their primary beverage. • A cultural shift is needed so that families have access to fruits and vegetables. There are fast-food restaurants on every corner but limited parks and recreational activities.

Some clinics are converting their second-floor spaces to safe areas for their patients to exercise or dance to address these barriers to exercise. • In our county, we have a higher rate of childhood obesity in certain pockets than we should and food deserts in many areas. There may be no grocery store with accessible fruits and vegetables, but plenty of corner liquor stores. Often the most affordable food is McDonald's. • Vietnamese people walked and biked a lot back home, but here there is little opportunity for exercise and people have poor nutrition and eat too many sweets. • The root causes are not having access to good food, no places to exercise, or not having enough time because people are working multiple jobs and cannot participate in recreational activities. Let’s make it easy to walk versus drive, and have bike paths that are safe so kids can develop habits for exercising. • For the homeless, it is difficult to maintain a healthy diet, which is not much different than other low-income populations. There is a lack of access to fresh foods and vegetables.

The physical fitness test (PFT) for students in California schools is the FitnessGram®. One of the components of the PFT is measurement of body composition (measured by skinfold measurement, BMI or bioelectric impedance). Children who do not meet the “Healthy Fitness Zone” criteria for body composition are categorized as needing improvement or at high risk (overweight/obese). In Orange County, 17.8% of 5th grade students tested as needing improvement (overweight) or at high risk (obese) for body composition, slightly lower than the California rate of 19.1%. Among 9th graders, the county rate was 15.9%, also below the state average (17.8%).

5th and 9th Graders, Body Composition, Needs Improvement and High Risk Fifth Grade Ninth Grade

Orange County California 17.8% 19.1%

Source: California Department of Education, Fitnessgram Physical Fitness Testing Results, 2016-2017. http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/ 15.9% 17.8%

Fast Food

In Orange County, 29.7% of children and 29.1% of adults consumed fast food three to four times a week. This rate of fast food consumption was higher than the state rate.

UCI Medical Center Community Health Needs Assessment 49