Maryland was one of just 11 states to earn a grade of B for its efforts to combat obesity, according to the University of Baltimore's second annual report card.
That wasn't bad, because no state earned an A and Maryland improved from its C rating in 2004.
The grades are based on legislation enacted to help control obesity. Maryland's improvement was the result of three measures. One requires time locks limiting access to school vending machines. Another authorizes a state physical education director to oversee school programs. The third continues funding for an obesity task force.
"Things are marginally better," said Ann Cotten, director of UB's Schaefer Center for Public Policy and one of the report card's authors.
Researchers attribute rising obesity rates since the 1970s to increasingly sedentary lifestyles. People watch more television, work more with computers, drive more and walk less. They also are eating more often in restaurants, where portions are often oversized.
The UB report card is an attempt to encourage policies to combat what many see as the result: an epidemic of weight-related problems that cost millions of dollars in health-related treatments.
"We see this as a problem being looked at in a piecemeal way, and it shouldn't be. It's either a result or a symptom of basic changes in our society," said co-author Kenneth R. Stanton, an assistant professor of finance at UB's Merrick School of Business. Zoltan J. Acs, an economics professor, was the report card's third author.
The researchers gave a C grade to 23 states and a D rating to 11. Five states - Idaho, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming - flunked for taking no action to control obesity.
In a separate category, California earned an A for its attempts to control childhood obesity, while Maryland earned a C.
Grades for overall obesity control were based on legislative initiatives in eight areas, from setting up obesity commissions to funding research. The childhood obesity grades were based on laws and proposals designed to help children, such as setting nutritional and physical education requirements in the schools.
Cotten said one problem in combating childhood obesity is that many school policies, such as gym requirements, vary from one county to the next.
