Community Health Assessment: About Nutrition Data
State Level Indicators
Data Source: BRFSS
- Percent of Adults Eating 5 or More Servings per Day of Fruits and Vegetables
- Fruits/Vegetable Serving (NYS Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System-BRFSS)
- The BRFSS is a telephone based survey that collects information on self-reported health related behaviors. All data relates to adults 18 years of age or older. Specifically, the indicator in this section is the proportion of respondents who reported eating five or more fruits and/or vegetables per day.
For more information, contact BRFSS Coordinator at (518) 473-0673.
County Level Indicators
Data Source: PedNSS
- Percent of Children 0-4 enrolled in the WIC program who are Underweight
- Percent of Children 2-4 enrolled in the WIC program who are Obese
- Percent of Children 6 months-4 Years enrolled in the WIC program who are Anemic
- Percent of Infants enrolled in the WIC program who were Breastfed for at least 6 months
- Underweight and Obese and Anemia in Children and Breastfeeding at 6 months (Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System-PedNSS, WIC program)
- The Division of Nutrition provides nutrition related information on low income infants and children enrolled in the WIC program. Underweight and obesity are defined in terms of relative BMI percentages.
- Body Mass Index (BMI)
- A number calculated from a child's weight and height. BMI is a reliable indicator of body fatness for most children and teens. BMI does not measure body fat directly, but research has shown that BMI correlates to direct measures of body fat, such as underwater weighing and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA).1 BMI can be considered an alternative for direct measures of body fat. Additionally, BMI is an inexpensive and easy-to-perform method of screening for weight categories that may lead to health problems.
For children and teens, BMI is age- and sex-specific and is often referred to as BMI-for-age.
After BMI is calculated for children and teens, the BMI number is plotted on the CDC BMI-for-age growth charts (for either girls or boys) to obtain a percentile ranking. Percentiles are the most commonly used indicator to assess the size and growth patterns of individual children in the United States. The percentile indicates the relative position of the child's BMI number among children of the same sex and age. The growth charts show the weight status categories used with children and teens (underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and obese).
BMI-for-age weight status categories and the corresponding percentiles are shown in the following table.
Weight Status Category Percentile Range Underweight Less than the 5th percentile Healthy weight 5th percentile to less than the 85th percentile Overweight 85th to less than the 95th percentile Obese Equal to or greater than the 95th percentile
- A low hemoglobin (Hb) concentration or low hematocrit (Hct) level, is defined by age- and gender-specific cutoff values based on the 5th percentile from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for a healthy population (CDC, 1998). Children aged 1 to 2 years are considered anemic if their Hb concentration is less than 11.0 g/dL or Hct level is less than 33.0%; children aged 2 to 5 years are considered anemic if their Hb concentration is less than 11.1 g/dL or their Hct level is less than 33.3% (CDC, 1998).
- Infants enrolled in the WIC program who were Breastfed for at least 6 months
- The percent of infants enrolled in WIC who were breastfed for a least 6 months and includes only infants who turned 6 months of age during the reporting period by or on the date of their WIC visit.
For more information, contact the Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System Coordinator, Lynn Edmunds at (518) 402-7306.