According to a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report, this year obesity levels climbed in 28 states. Now over two-thirds of states have at least 25% overweight or obese citizens. The highest growth in overweight was among children 10-17. Perhaps most sadly, over 80% of Americans polled realize that obesity is a serious problem in the U.S., but few know what to do about it.
The Senate has addressed this issue and has agreed on a Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill. Now the House must act.
Congresswoman Marsha Fudge (D-OH) hosted a Congressional briefing on childhood obesity and emphasized the disproportionate number of minority children affected by this devastating problem.
And last week the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on H.R. 5504, "Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act." The panel of speakers represented diverse sectors: the military, health insurance, the food and restaurant industries, and agriculture.
Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Texas Blue Cross, Blue Shield compared the relatively low cost of allocating more funding to the school lunch programs to the high costs of health care that will may result if kids become obese.
Major General Paul D. Monroe (Ret.) highlighted that a full one-fourth of American youth are not fit enough to serve in the military. To any historian of the nation's child food assistance programs, this is the ultimate shock. One of the primary reasons that President Truman signed such programs into law was that many eligible military recruits were thin and undernourished -- not fat and overnourished, as they are today.
The House promised to begin marking up the bill after July 4th. However, the deadline for reauthorization is September 30. If there's no bill by then, America's kids will continue to live with an out-of-date set of dietary guidelines.
We've got to let Congress know what we want: healthy kids now.
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