The City of Portland, ME, has initiated a obesity prevention public information campaign, “Pouring on the Pounds,” designed to educate the public of the health risks associated with consuming sugar sweetened beverages.
As part of this initiative, signs were installed at mile markers 1, 2, and 3 along the City’s Back Cove Trail in order to help runners and walkers keep track of more than just the distance they have traveled. Back Cove trekkers are now able to see the calorie equivalent of how much soda they have burned off while walking or running the trail. Walking three miles burns enough calories to equal the consumption of a twenty ounce bottle of soda.
The “Pouring on the Pounds” campaign also includes public service announcements designed to inform the public that a twenty ounce sugar sweetened beverage is equal to sixteen packets of sugar and that the extra calories from drinking these beverages increase the risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. The announcements are featured on buses, local newspapers, and television.
Maine is the most obese state in New England with one out of every three children in the state and fifty-eight percent of all adults in Cumberland County either overweight or obese. Two years ago, the city received $1.8 million to implement strategies to prevent obesity from a Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant. The grant is administered by Healthy Portland, a local Healthy Maine Partnership and program of the City of Portland’s Health and Human Services Department. Pouring on the Pounds is one of the public health strategies developed to encourage active living and healthy eating.
Media report:
MPBN: Pouring on the Pounds Campaign Takes Aim at Obesity in Portland (11 MAY 12)
Background information:
CDC: Communities Putting Prevention to Work
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