UNICARE Donates Half-Million Educational Guides to Help Texas Families, Physicians Talk About Childhood Obesity.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 2004

"Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids" Will Be Available

in Schools Throughout Texas

The state of Texas now has access to a new resource to help combat the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. UNICARE Life & Health Insurance Company (UNICARE) today announced the donation of 500,000 copies of "Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids" educational guides to the Texas Department of Health (TDH). The guides are offered free-of-charge to elementary schools statewide and will be available through Texas' 20 Regional Education Service Centers.

"Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids" stresses family participation and provides practical strategies for engaging the entire family in healthy eating and more physical activity. The guide provides easy-to-follow tips and tricks for healthy living, including:

-- The "Healthy Habits Quiz" to identify where a family may want

to make changes

-- Information about how to set healthy, realistic goals

-- A guide to nutritious foods

-- Ways to include more physical activity in a daily routine

-- Healthy hints for eating out with kids

"'Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids' serves as an educational and creative resource that appropriately complements Texas' current initiatives tackling the obesity epidemic," said Sandra Van Trease, president and CEO, UNICARE. "The donation reflects our commitment to empowering families and health care professionals with information and resources to live healthier lives."

The Texas Board of Health, which oversees the Texas Department of Health, approved the donation at its meeting in Austin today. "Texas is battling a childhood obesity epidemic, with 39 percent of fourth-graders, 37 percent of eighth-graders and 30 percent of 11th-graders in the state considered overweight or obese," says Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, Texas Commissioner of Health and the head of the Texas Department of Health. "Resources such as the 'Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids' guide provide us with creative ways to reach children and parents with important information."

The guide was developed in response to a U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau study that reported that a "communication shortfall" between physicians and families creates a barrier to addressing childhood obesity. It recommended the use of "practical office aids" to communicate with parents and patients.

Developed by WellPoint, UNICARE's parent company, and the American Dietetic Association (ADA), "Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids" was reviewed by more than 200 physicians and a panel of registered dietitians.

"The increasing incidence of obesity, especially in children, is a serious national health issue," said ADA president and registered dietitian Marianne Smith Edge, MS, RD, LD, FADA. "ADA believes that education of health care providers, parents and children is key to helping America's young people achieve and maintain a healthy weight. This guide will serve as an important new tool to help parents and children set and meet weight management goals."

"We felt that the best way to address this communication gap was to develop a tool that helps families and children talk about healthy nutrition and physical fitness," said Peter Juhn, M.D., M.P.H., WellPoint's vice president of health improvement resources. "Overweight adolescents have a 70 percent chance of becoming overweight or obese adults and are at a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, asthma and arthritis. This is clearly an issue that impacts the whole family."

Senator Kyle Janek, who was instrumental in bringing the "Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids" guides to Texas, adds, "As a result of the childhood obesity epidemic, diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis and heart disease are showing up more frequently in children. In order to reverse this growing trend, we must reach out to families and provide educational tools that will make a difference."

"Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids" is also available free in electronic format in English and Spanish at www.unicare.com and www.eatright.org.

WellPoint Health Networks Inc. serves the health care needs of more than 15 million medical members and approximately 46 million specialty members nationwide through Blue Cross of California, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri, Blue Cross Blue Shield Wisconsin, HealthLink and UNICARE. Visit WellPoint on the web at www.wellpoint.com. Blue Cross of California, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Obesity -- Facts & Figures

-- Approximately one in 20 adolescents is obese. Another 5 to 10

percent are overweight.(1)

-- Child obesity most commonly begins between the ages of five

and six and during adolescence.(2)

-- 63 percent of Texas adults are overweight or obese.(3)

-- 29 percent of Texas high school students are overweight or at

risk of becoming overweight.(4)

-- The obesity rate among Texas adults doubled between 1990 and

2002.(5)

-- Recent results of the National Health and Nutrition

Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999 indicate that an estimated 61

percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese, defined

as having a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or more.

-- The percentage of children and adolescents who are defined as

overweight has more than doubled since the early 1970s.(6)

-- Overweight children as young as 8 have been found to have a

bloodstream inflammation that in adults has been linked to

heart disease, and boys as young as 15 can begin to experience

clogged arteries, according to the Texas Medical Association.

-- In a 1999-2000 pilot study in Austin, initial body mass index

measurements ranked as obese 9 percent of kindergarteners, 23

percent of first-graders, and 23 percent of second-graders,

according to the Texas Medical Association.

-- An assessment of 915 El Paso third-graders by The University

of Texas at El Paso showed that 35 percent of boys and 29

percent of girls were overweight, while 22 percent of boys and

15 percent of girls were clinically obese.

-- The Children's Center at the Texas Diabetes Institute in San

Antonio tracked new cases of diabetes among area youth from

1990 to 1997. In 1990, there was only one case of type 2

diabetes. In 1997, the institute saw 30 new cases.

(1) The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (CUCPS) Complete Home Medical Guide.

(2) American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), Facts for Families, No. 79, January, 2001.

(3) (CDC BRFSS, 2002) URL: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/state_programs/texas.htm

(4) (CDC YRBSS, 2001) URL: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/state_programs/texas.htm

(5) (CDC BRFSS, 2002) URL: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/state_programs/texas.htm

(6) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. URL: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/defining.htm#Adolescents