The Californian is undertaking a large project on childhood obesity in Kern County — a serious issue that's impacting our schools, our health system and, most importantly, our children's lives.

And we're looking for some help.

Wanting to go beyond the basic exercise-and-don't-watch-TV story, Lisa Schencker, the education reporter, and I are looking to profile several overweight children and teens and explore the roadblocks to taking off the weight, what these kids face on a daily basis and solutions to this crisis.

It has been said that the obesity epidemic may lead to the first time in modern history in which our children have a shorter life expectancy than we do.

The number of overweight California children since 2001 has increased by 6 percent to 28 percent, according to a study by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.

For Kern County especially, obesity is a serious issue.

At 42 percent, Wasco has the highest childhood obesity rate in the state, according to the California Center for Public Health Advocacy study. Delano was third at 40 percent.

About 20 percent of Kern County teens are overweight to obese, according to UCLA's 2005 California Health Interview Survey.

Kern is No. 6 for having the highest percentage of teens and adults who are overweight to obese, with 58.7 percent, the survey found.

And along with high obesity rates, come high numbers of people with diabetes, heart conditions and other chronic conditions.

To better understand this issue, we want to see it through the eyes of the children who are living it. We hope that this project will shed some light on false stereotypes, help educate the public on the severity of this epidemic and uncover some solutions.

If you’re interested in sharing your story or want to learn more about the project, please call me at 395-7510 or Lisa at 395-7386. You can also e-mail us at ehagedorn@bakersfield.com and lschencker@bakersfield.com.

I'm also eager to hear any suggestions you have for this project. Along with the profiles, we will be doing many other in-depth stories on this topic. Anything you want to learn more about?