Obesity in Washington DC: Annotated Bibliography

It is important to take note of the community health promotion proposal which is (Obesity in
Washington DC). and a minimum of 3 pages is require and you must follow proper guidelines
for written an annotated bibliography .
This assignment gives you the skills and knowledge to begin collecting credible information
needed for future assignments and experience with APA citation by creating your own annotated
bibliography.
Annotations vary, and for this assignment, your annotations should provide a(n):
? Summary of the book, article, white paper, web-site, or other resource
? Evaluation of resource
? Application to your community health proposal (Obesity in Washington DC).

Annotated Bibliography of Obesity in Washington, DC

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Annotated Bibliography

Introduction
The following exercise entails the annotation or brief description of literature sources that
discuss obesity in Washington DC. Majority of these sources are from peer-reviewed journals
while others are from the websites of healthcare-oriented organizations’ websites.
Young, L. R., & Nestle, M. (2002). The contribution of expanding portion sizes to the US
obesity epidemic. American journal of public health, 92(2), 246-249.
This article discusses the connection that exists between portion sizes of commercial food outlets
and the rise in cases of obesity and overweight in the country. The gradual increase in the
quantity of food provided in the market began in the 1970s and this went on until the level
recommended by the Federal government was increased. The authors further propose that eating
out needs to be prioritized as a sensitization area in the event of any community based
intervention strategies.
Davidson, M. H., Hauptman, J., DiGirolamo, M., Foreyt, J. P., Halsted, C. H., Heber, D., … &
Heymsfield, S. B. (1999). Weight control and risk factor reduction in obese subjects treated for 2
years with orlistat: a randomized controlled trial. Jama, 281(3), 235-242.
The article is based on the scientific fact of excess weight and or obesity being a risk factor for
many cardio vascular conditions. What was established from the study conducted was that the
weight-related risk factors for these health conditions could be reduced and even eliminated
through weight loss.

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Chidlcare.org (2014) Washington, DC Factsheet on Obesity, Childcare Website. Retrieved from
http://www.childhealthdata.org/docs/nsch-docs/district-of-columbia-pdf.pdf on July 14, 2014
This is a document that Graphically illustrates the different dynamics of Childhood Obesity
across the United States of America. With regard to Washington DC, the document indicates a
drop in the prevalence rates from what they were in 2003. The document also states that
Washington DC ranked as number 43 in terms of overall prevalence of childhood obesity. With
regard to low income children who reside in Washington DC aged above two years but under
five years, 24% of this group were considered to be obese.
Gillum, R. F. (1987). The association of body fat distribution with hypertension, hypertensive
heart disease, coronary heart disease, diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors in men and women
aged 18–79 years. Journal of chronic diseases, 40(5), 421-428.
This article was not exclusively focused on Washington DC. The status of this city as a
cosmopolitan area however made its statistics on obesity useful for purposes on this study. It was
established that across the age groups, symptoms of obesity and other cardiovascular diseases
were affected by ethnicity and gender with African Americans having a higher propensity to
these illnesses when compared to whites. The key symptom that was used as a parameter was
high blood pressure since it is manifested in most if not all of these illnesses.

Harris, H (2010) Childhood Obesity Report gives DC a starting point for improving diets,
Washington Post Online. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2010/05/12/AR2010051204107.html on July 14, 2014

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This article published online discusses the participation of the first lady, Michelle Obama and
how this initiative being run from her office needs to be guided by the Obesity report that reveals
the areas that need urgent attention as well as the neighborhoods where the condition is generally
better managed.
Drewnowski, A., & Specter, S. E. (2004). Poverty and obesity: the role of energy density and
energy costs. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 79(1), 6-16.
This article was derived from the results of a study that was conducted to investigate the
relationship between levels of wealth and the control of obesity. The hypothesis that was in
application during the study was that higher rates of obesity were generally being reported in
populations whose members had lower education and higher poverty. This led to a disparity in
healthcare between the rich and the poor. The study established that the rise in incidences of
obesity resulted from an increase in people whose disposable income only allowed them to spend
less and less on quality food, instead buying more of high fat, high sugar foods.

CDC (2012) District of Columbia’s Response to Obesity, Center for Disease Control, Online.
Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/stateprograms/fundedstates/dc.html on July 14,
2014
This webpage summarizes the statistics on obesity and how the three main age groups are
affected by it. These age groups are adults aged 18 and above, adolescents who are in between
the grades 9 through to 12 and also Children. The statistics for overweight and obesity indicate
that this problem increases gradually with age and of the two, obesity sharply increases between
adolescence and adulthood.

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DOH (2014) Childhood Obesity. Department of Health Online. Retrieved from
http://doh.dc.gov/service/childhood-obesity on July 15, 2014
The material presented in this webpage discusses childhood obesity with an emphasis on
strategies that can be used to prevent it. The main strategy of providing dietary advice to the
young as well as their parents is also explained. This is followed by the listing and brief
description of the different initiatives that this office has kick- started.
McCann, B. A., & Ewing, R. (2003). Measuring the health effects of sprawl: A national analysis
of physical activity, obesity and chronic disease.
This is an article that was published following a research study that sought to find out if there
was a difference in the state of health of people who lived in urban areas and those who lived in
sprawls at the time of the interview. The study too into account the amount of walking people
from the respective groups undertook. It was established from this study that those who lived in
sprawls generally had worse health records based on their weight and blood pressure. They had
more weight and higher blood pressure. The study also found that those in urban areas walked
more than those who lived in the sprawls. This was mainly due to the fact that they did less
walking in general. Urban dwellers walked for exercise, to work as well as for daily errands. The
study however found no correlation between these living conditions and diabetes and this was
then hypothesized to be the because of the influence of heredity.

NIH (2014) NIH Obesity-Related Scientific Meetings, Conferences and Workshops Archive.
National Institute of Health Website. Retrieved from
http://www.obesityresearch.nih.gov/news/meetings-archive.aspx on Jul 15, 2014

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Since the National Institute of Health has been researching on obesity for several years, it
remains with an important cache of literature in the form of research studies, articles and also
meetings by experts in this condition. This page contains links to the findings and discussions of
these sources of information on obesity.