Our Kids Keep Getting Fatter. What to Do?

Posted by: Cathy Arnst on July 01

More grim news on the obesity front. An annual survey of obesity in America found that adult obesity rates increased in 23 states last year, and did not fall in a single state. Adult obesity now exceeds 25% in 31 states, and two-thirds of adults are considered overweight or obese. Worst of all, the survey also looked at children age 10-17 and found that 30% or higher are overweight or obese in 30 states. 30 states! The rate of obesity in US children has more than tripled since 1980.

Study after study has found that overweight children are more likely to become obese as adults, and obese children are almost certain to remain that way. “There is a huge wave of obese adults coming that will bankrupt us as a nation unless we get this under control now,” said Dr. James S. Marks, senior vice-president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

We might be inclined to blame the schools for filling them up with unhealthy lunches and cutting phys ed programs. But a 2007 study discovered that home may be far more dangerous to our children’s waistlines. Body-mass index (BMI) gains were greater during summer vacation than during the kindergarten and first grade school years. We have met the enemy and it is us, the increasingly-fatter parents.

So what do we do? A New York City councilman, Eric Gioia, has proposed a bill banning fast-food chains from opening new restaurants within one-tenth of a mile of a school. He was inspired by a recent California study that found that when fast food outlets were in a short walking distance to a school the student obesity rate was 5.2% higher than those schools without such easy access.

In fact, according to the BusinessWeek story Alcohol, Then Tobacco. Now Fast Food? , consumer advocates are calling for regulations that would make children off-limits to fast food marketers, much as they are to alcohol and tobacco companies.

The food and restaurant industry needs to be responsible in how they market to children or else the government will step in and then require them to,” says Dr. Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Lots more could be done, according to the researchers who put together the state-by-state survey. Despite the fact that every state has some form of phys ed requirements for its schools, nationwide less than one-third of all children age 6 to 17 engage in vigorous activity for at least 20 minutes a day. Activity rates by state range from a low of 17.6% in Utah to a high of 38.5% in North Carolina. Perhaps we shouldn’t count on the schools, and instead make sure our kids spend some time running around at home, instead of vegging out in front of a screen.

Parents can also agitate for healthier school lunches and a ban on soda in schools, although that won’t do much good if they don’t follow through at home. Does anyone else have suggestions on how to combat the obesity crisis swamping our children, and ourselves? Because we will all pay the cost, economically and physically, if this problem isn’t addressed now.

If you want to see how your state stacks up on the obesity rankings, check out the full report, titled F As In Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing In America, by clicking here or just roll your cursor over this interactive map.

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