Laws won't do much to stop obesity in kids

 No comments  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

Over the past 30 years, the rate of obesity in the United States has more than doubled for preschoolers and adolescents and has more than tripled for children ages 6 to 11. The problem is obvious. The solution is trickier. We want to protect our children from future health problems and possibly even early death.

As could be expected, politicians of all stripes are ready to jump in with plans to legislate thinner kiddies.

n U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has picked up steam for his long-running crusade to banish junk food from vending machines in middle and high schools. He wants Congress to improve the nutritional content of food available in schools. “I’m not opposed to vending machines,” Harkin said.

“I’m opposed to what’s in them.”

n California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed into law bills aimed at (naturally) “terminating” childhood obesity. That legislation, too, focuses on school nutrition, including vending machines.

Unfortunately, Judith S. Stern of the American Council on Science and Health, while praising the concern shown by Schwarzenegger and the California state senators for children’s health, says it is doubtful the laws will really help.

“Not one of the bills addresses the elephant in the room — consumption of excess calories,” Stern said. The bills still allow the sale of milk- and juice-based products, water and sports drinks. “And that’s the problem,” she said. Even though juice-based drinks are perceived to be more healthful than sodas, she said, “that’s not necessarily true” when it comes to calorie intake.

Childhood obesity became political fair game partly because people want to quickly solve perplexing problems, and vote-seeking legislators are quick to respond.

However, in the flurry of news reports on all sides of the question of childhood obesity, a thread of logic seems to be emerging: Personal responsibility.

Even Morgan Spurlock, the award-winning filmmaker who wrote, directed and starred in “Super Size Me,” which slammed McDonald’s fast-food menu, grudgingly acknowledges this logic. “We can’t negate personal responsibility,” he said while speaking recently at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Parents should be setting better examples. MayoClinic.com has an excellent Web site on “Childhood Obesity: What Parents Can Do.”

Some schools have installed vending machines to help make ends meet, the Mayo report said. Parents can request that their local school boards require accepted nutritional standards.

Parents also can advocate for more physical education classes, the Mayo report said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that only 8 percent of elementary and 5.8 percent of high schools offer daily PE.

Harkin’s bill contains a worthy requirement that would direct the USDA to develop a new definition of foods of “poor nutritional value” to eliminate foods high in fat, salt, trans fats and added sugars.

With increased nutrition awareness, parental participation, personal responsibility and school and home exercise, we ought to do nicely without laws forcing us to eat certain ways.

Do we want to raise healthy children? Well, the dodge ball’s in our court.