According to the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 18% of adolescents in grades 9-12 who are obese attend school in school districts with 50% or more free or reduced lunch. This rate has decreased slightly since 2019, when the rate was 19%. This is compared to 14% of adolescents in grades 9-12 who are obese in the general population in 2021. This higher rate follows other data on obesity which shows that Vermont adults who have a lower annual household income are more likely to be obese.

Obesity disproportionately effects youth of lower socio-economic status in our country. Families with lower income and education often struggle to pay for housing, transportation and food, making it difficult to purchase nutritious food. While the national school breakfast and lunch programs help by providing nutritious food at school, not all schools have both breakfast and lunch, and most don’t have dinner programs, leaving a gap for families as they struggle to provide nutritious meals to their children. We also know that nutrition insecurity and disordered eating are linked, also due to the difficulty in affording nutritionally dense food.

This measure is meant to show the impact of low socio-economic status on the weight status of adolescents in Vermont, something that is hard to measure using the data sources available. It is one of many indicators selected to show progress made on the 2019-2023 State Health Improvement Plan, which is aimed at the following target audiences: Low income, LGBTQ, people of color and individuals living with disabilities. Many of the strategies in the plan are focused on chronic disease prevention.

• Office of Local Health District Offices, Vermont Department of Health: The Offices of Local Health school liaisons work with schools on local wellness policies and environmental changes.
• Division of Family & Child Health, Vermont Department of Health: This division provides technical assistance to schools on local wellness policy planning and implementation.
• Vermont Agency of Education: The Agency of Education administers the School Lunch and Breakfast programs and provides technical assistance to schools regarding physical activity during the school day.
• Vermont Agency of Agriculture (Farm to School): The Agency of Agriculture administers the Farm to School program which promotes local fruit and vegetable consumption.
• Vermont Department of Children and Families: The Department of Children and Families provides funding to the Department of Health to administer SNAP-Ed, a nutrition education program for SNAP-eligible Vermonters.
• Vermont Farm to School Network: The Network assists those working in schools to increase the amount of local produce and other local products served to children during the school day. It also supports classroom curricula that teach nutrition and the value of supporting local farms.
• Hunger Free Vermont: Advocating for universal free breakfast and lunch for all Vermont students.
• Vermont Food Bank: The Vermont Food Bank provides food and support to a network of food shelves and pantries in Vermont. They work to include local, fresh produce through their VT Fresh program.

There are several evidence-based strategies that can be used to lower the prevalence of obesity in adolescents; these include:

• Farm to School programs that work to increase fruit and vegetable consumption
• Increasing physical activity during the school day to at least 30 minutes a day
• Increasing the quality of physical education in schools
• Supporting food service staff in implementing USDA school breakfast, lunch and competitive foods standards
• Installing water bottle refilling stations in schools.

Additionally, there are strategies to enhance healthy food access for low income people, including:

• healthy food in convenience and general stores
• community gardens
• providing produce through food banks and pantries. A local example of this is VT Fresh, a program of the Vermont Food Bank.

For national examples and success stories, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website on Nutrition, Physical Activity & Obesity.

Through an agreement with the Vermont Department of Children and Families, the Vermont Department of Health manages the SNAP-Ed program, which provides nutrition and physical activity education to Vermonters who are eligible for SNAP (Three Squares) benefits. 

The Vermont Department of Health also provides staff support to Vermont’s farm to school movement, which provides technical assistance to schools on how to increase local fruits and vegetables and nutrition education, while also supporting Vermont farms. Farm to school increases exposure to fruits and vegetables to Vermont students with taste tests and school gardens.

Prevalence describes the proportion of individuals with a given trait in the population during a specified period of time. It is calculated by using descriptive statistical procedures using software such as SPSS, SAS, and/or SUDAAN.

Using reports generated by Supervisory Union/School District (SU/SD) from the Vermont Agency of Education that provided the proportion of the SU/SD enrollment eligible for free and reduced lunch, Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data were limited to high schools in SUs/SDs having 50% or more students eligible for free and reduced lunch.

The YRBS is sponsored by the Department of Health's Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs, and the Department of Education's Coordinated School Health Programs and the CDC and measures the prevalence of behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disease, and injury among youth. Vermont surveys over 30,000 students during each administration. Weighted data is compiled to generate a representative state sample.

Note that prior to 2013, statewide estimates were generated by weighting processes from a representative sample of schools. In 2013, the methodology was changed and all student responses were used in creating statewide estimates, allowing for more accurate reporting. 2011 data were recalculated in the same way as 2013 data in order to improve comparisons. Starting in 2019, the YRBS has been administered electronically, prior to this it was a paper survey. Historically, the YRBS has been administered in the Spring semester; however, due to the COVID-10 pandemic and related school closures, the CDC allowed for the 2021 survey to be delayed to the Fall semester later in 2021. Prevalence estimates for 2021 and comparisons with previous YRBS data have likely been impacted by the delay, since the average age of survey participants was younger than in past years.

Please see the YRBS webpage for more information about this data source.