This letter is written in response to the article "Panel urges obesity tests for kids as young as 6" by Kelly Brewington (Jan. 18). Ms. Brewington has done a thorough review of this topic, and we applaud the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for calling attention to this alarming trend, a trend that has significant impact beyond just the weight of our community. Research is clear that poor nutrition and physical inactivity has broad reaching consequences. America's childhood obesity rates have tripled in the last 30 years, exposing 9 million kids to a variety of potential long-term health consequences. Experts are concerned that this will be the first generation of American children who live sicker and die younger than the previous generation.

In every crisis, there are opportunities. We believe the opportunities in this crisis extend well beyond meeting the need for properly planned and implemented weight control programs. Research is clear that those who lead a healthy, active lifestyle not only have lower incidence of health related diseases and disorders but are more productive in all aspects of their life. Additionally, healthy, physically active students actually perform better academically. Unfortunately, in an attempt to improve academic test scores, most school districts have dramatically limited physical education opportunities for students. This has devastating consequences from both a health perspective and an academic perspective. One study done at Virginia Tech showed that cutting gym class and allocating more time to math, science and reading did not improve test scores. Yet research performed by the California Department of Education has consistently shown that students with higher fitness scores also have higher academic test scores.

In addition to the opportunity to help our youth improve academically as a result of focusing on programs geared toward health, fitness and weight management, another positive societal opportunity exists. Ms. Brewington quotes task force committee member Dr. Ned Calonge, "The answer to the obesity problem doesn't lie in the health care system. … To really change it, we need to change social and cultural norms. It means getting everyone involved."

Behavioral change experts tell us that social support, positive peer pressure so to speak, is critical to making long term healthy lifestyle changes. At the same time, we are a society that has fewer and fewer opportunities to connect, to support each other in a positive way. The detrimental effect of this on all aspects of society -- not just on our physical health, is clear. Sociologists tell us that the healthiest communities are those that have positive "Third Place" options for their residents -- the first place being home, the second would be work or school and the "Third Place" would be a meeting or gathering place.

The opportunity here is to purposely develop positive Third Place options, and not only will we create opportunities to help our youth -- and adults -- to keep their weight under control, but we will help to strengthen our collective connection to each other for the greater good. In Malcolm Gladwell's book, "Outliers," he cites the remarkably healthy community of Italian immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and re-created their small Italian village life, where daily conversations with neighbors were the norm rather than a rushed exception, and where people looked out for one another regardless of economic circumstance. This population had astonishing physical and social health indicators -- no incidence of heart disease before age 50, no suicide and virtually no crime. At the Y of Central Maryland, we have modeled our centers to offer this kind of much needed "Third Place" comfort. It is in this context that we offer holistic programming that helps interrupt the life patterns that lead to obesity. One such program, developed in conjunction with CareFirst and Healthways Foundation, has shown a 32 percent weighted average improvement on six measures of fitness for enrolled children. This kind of holistic approach to overall well-being offers a major weapon in the fight against childhood obesity. This epidemic is symptomatic of other challenges we face as a community. Just as the medical community has discovered the benefits of treating the person rather than the disease, the same logic holds true with the obesity epidemic.

Bob Brosmer, Baltimore

The writer is chief operating officer of the Y of Central Maryland.

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