U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher sounded the alarm bell a decade ago: childhood obesity was spreading through our nation like an epidemic, jeopardizing the health of our children and threatening to bankrupt our health care system. These and other warnings have raised public consciousness, but our elected leaders have not yet made the changes needed to reverse the obesity epidemic once and for all. It's time for that to change.
A report released last week by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows how far we have to go. According to the report, F as in Fat: How the Obesity Crisis Threatens America's Future, adult obesity rates rose in 28 states over the past year and declined only in the District of Columbia. Nationally, nearly one-third of children are obese or overweight, placing them at higher risk for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and a host of other serious chronic illnesses. Put simply, we are losing the fight to keep our children healthy.
The overall trend isn't a surprise to anyone who's tracked the progress of the obesity epidemic. Childhood obesity rates have tripled over the past few decades, and they've continued to rise since Dr. Satcher issued his landmark call to action a decade ago.
Fortunately, F as in Fat provides some cause for encouragement -- the results of a nationwide poll asking 1,200 registered voters about their views on the obesity epidemic. As it turns out, Americans are way ahead of their elected officials. They're demanding action now; our leaders in Washington should listen.
According to the survey, an overwhelming majority (84%) of Americans believes the childhood obesity epidemic is a serious problem -- Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and Tea Party supporters agree. A strong majority (56%) believes we should launch a comprehensive national program to prevent childhood obesity, even if we have to invest billions of dollars now to prevent hundreds of billions in costs later. And voters agree the problem is so urgent, we dare not wait. Asked if we should put obesity prevention on the back burner until the economy improves, Americans overwhelmingly said no, we must act now.
Opportunities abound for Congress to take the kind of bold action the American people are demanding. Strengthening the National School Lunch Program, which is scheduled to expire this fall, would be an ideal first step. The School Lunch program provides more than 30 million meals each day to children, and it helps young people establish food preferences that last into adulthood. Congress should require that all foods served and sold in schools meet or exceed the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
This simple change will get schools permanently out of the junk food business and close the loophole that currently allows french fries, sugary drinks, candy, and other foods void of nutritional value to be sold on school grounds.
Closing the junk food loophole won't cost taxpayers a dime, although other healthy changes will require an upfront investment. For example, Congress ought to increase the reimbursement rate provided to schools for meals served under the School Lunch Program -- currently $2.68 per lunch. After paying labor, energy, and other overhead costs, many schools are left with less than $1 per meal to spend on ingredients. Schools can't possibly afford quality food at that price, so most rely on cheap over-processed, high-sodium, high-fat products.
Investments like these will improve the health of our children and pay for themselves many times over in reduced health care costs, improved academic achievement and increased productivity into adulthood. But even if it didn't pay off financially, I'd argue strenuously that better health for our kids is all the return on investment we need.
Many in Congress are already pushing hard for these and other healthy changes to the School Lunch Program. They're fighting for our kids, but they're also fighting against the clock, working to complete action on reform before Congress adjourns for the year. The American people are on their side. We can only hope their colleagues join them.
James S. Marks, M.D., M.P.H., is senior vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As director of the Foundation's health group, he helps guide programs to prevent childhood obesity, promote public health and eliminate health disparities.
Follow James S. Marks on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JamesSMarks48
Rules on food labeling need to be strict and enforced.
But, the fact is that low physical activity and constant snacking has become all American. TV and video games and every convenience food available to the busy working parents all add up to a bad end result.
Constant sugar drink consumption has become the rule, all day long, rather than the occasional treat it once was.
Parents are the responsible parties and have an obligation to raise and train their children in proper nutrition, without a doubt.
Schools should be more to educate than to "feed", but when they feed, they should follow sane guidelines as a matter of course.
School food programs have to break even. Because the current federal reimbursement rate for lunches is so low (estimates are that about $1 is available to purchase the food), many schools rely on cheap subsidized, processed foods, which are often high in sugar, sodium and fat. So while school lunches may have been unhealthy when you or I were in school, they are even more so now. And, at least unlike when I was in school, many now have vending machines or stores that offer sodas or candy bars.
Also, many students do get two school meals per day, some even get an afternoon snack, which means they’re getting a lot of their daily calories from school. When those calories come from unhealthy foods and beverages, that adds up. Especially if kids are also less active than when we were young. Even only a couple of hundred extra calories per day could add up to several excess pounds per year. Year after year.
That’s why Congress must ensure that all foods served and sold in schools are healthy for our children, and meet or exceed the nutrition and dietary guidelines. It’s also why we all must do what we can to help kids be active. When schools have PE and after-school programs that get kids moving, and communities have parks and bike trails that connect neighborhoods, children are more active. Such changes won’t be easy, but Americans want them, and together we can make them happen.
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50 years of "progressive" politics and entitlements have created a nation of people who believe the government is responsible for everything.
The original American values of responsibility and accountability are long gone. Look at today's society. Any time something goes wrong, from national catastrophes on down to personal dilemmas, the first thing we do as a society is look for who to blame because it couldn't possibly be "my" fault. We as individuals never screw up anymore, it is always somebody else's fault. And we as individuals are no long responsible for fixing our own problems, it is the government's responsibility.
Ronald Reagan was 100% right when he said, "Government isn't the solution, government is the problem."
Next get in a time machine and go 20-30 years in the future when our epidemic of childhood obesity has caused an extra 20 million young adults with over 20 years of type II diabetes. they will be getting vascular problems, kidney failure, heart problems, etc. The costs of caring for this cohort will be staggering. Now do the math. sixty five million geriatric Boomers plus an extra 20 million middle aged diabetics that heretofor did not exist will generate health care costs equal to the GDP.
Only a national solution (starting now) can deflct this catastrophe. We must assure adequate care for all, but it must be fairly apportioned--and very importantly we must take on the real work of prevention. Get those kids off their butts. Mandatory PE classes. Turn off the electro-games. As for the elderly Boomers we need an agreement on how much health care we'll cover.
It looks like the next big balloon is going to be the diabetes industry. They have the most expensive set of procedures and meds. The American diet is their meal ticket for the next few decades, unless we get smart.
With big business pushing bad foods and big pharma pushing costly drugs, they've got the economy tied up, its money in the bank for them. Insurers will raise rates for those high-risk clients, they'll make out like bandits.
Oh woe is our treasury.
How many times did he use the word 'Parents' ?
Zero. Zilch. Nada.
It is unfortunate that a medical doctor chooses to make a political issue out of a basic fact of good health.
The problem of child obesity will be solved by decreasing a child's consumption of calories and increasing the child's amount of exercise.
The nutritional and physical fitness needs of a child are the responsibility of parents.
School boards at the local level can help to set an example by firing all teachers who have a BMI over 27. Elected officials can help by releasing to the public the BMI of the 535 members of Congress and the approximately 7300 members of the 50 state legislatures.
No government program can take the place of dedicated parents. As a pediatrician, I know that parents play the most important role in helping their children lead healthy lives. Every parent wants their child to be able to eat healthy foods and be active everyday, but, unfortunately, too many families live in communities where that is difficult.
When schools offer unhealthy foods and beverages and provide little time for activity, our children’s health suffers. Individual parents don’t have control over those practices nor do children. We see the same thing when communities don’t have supermarkets that offer fresh fruit and vegetables and lack safe, attractive places to play.
But their community leaders can, and must, exercise their role in creating policies to make the school and community environments healthier places for parents to raise their families. Government’s role is to make the right thing easier for people to do- especially those who because of economics or geography have a harder time making the healthy choice. But the choices are still individuals'. Our society is about working together to make those healthy choices possible and if we fail we lose as a nation, as a community and as a family. Parents try to do their best for their children but they need help. That is why I highlighted what Congress needs to do. It needs to make healthy decisions too, on behalf of those parents and children it represents.