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US: Childhood obesity a national crisis
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-30 15:54
America's children are fat and getting fatter, and parents, schools, the
government, advertisers and the food industry all need to make changes to battle
the problem, a panel of experts said on Thursday.
The report on childhood obesity from the Institute of Medicine does not call
for sweeping legislation but does propose some controversial moves such as
clearer labeling requirements for junk foods and getting schools involved in
monitoring students' weight and health.
The institute, an independent group that advises the federal government on
health matters such as vitamin requirements and medical insurance, appointed a
committee of pediatricians, educators, industry experts and lawyers to look at
childhood obesity.
"At present, approximately nine million children over 6 years of age are
considered obese," the report reads.
They have a huge risk of diabetes and heart disease, with a study published
just this week showing obese children as young as age 7 have signs of damage to
their arteries.
"We must act now and we must do this as a nation," said Dr. Jeffrey Koplan of
Emory University in Atlanta, a former director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, who headed the panel.
The report says nutritional standards should be set for all foods and
beverages served on school grounds, including those from vending machines.
The committee of 19 experts also recommended that schools bring back physical
education and add other programs to get kids to exercise at least half an hour a
day.
Schools should check students' weight every year, the report said.
Voluntary Restrictions
The food, beverage, and entertainment industries should voluntarily create
guidelines on selling food and drink to children, modeled perhaps on voluntary
guidelines for promoting alcohol, the panel said.
Restaurants should do more to provide healthy alternatives and should list
calorie content and nutrition information.
They should also come up with creative ways to change "entrenched"
preferences for high-calorie food that is not very nutritious, it said.
"The Food and Drug Administration should revise the Nutrition Facts panel to
prominently display the total calorie content for items typically consumed at
one eating occasion in addition to the standardized calorie serving and the
percent Daily Value," the report reads.
In return, perhaps food labels could make more claims about healthful foods
if the evidence for them exists.
Parents should encourage healthier eating and should help their children get
more exercise, in part by limiting time in front of the television or computer
to two hours or less a day, the panel said.
Surveys by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation have found that nearly one
out of every four children age 8 and older spend more than five hours a day
watching TV, and that children 6 and under spend an average of two hours a day
watching television or playing computer and video games.
The Foundation estimated that the typical child sees about 40,000 commercial
a year on TV, most for candy, cereal, soda and fast food. The food and beverage
industries spend US$10 billion or more a year marketing directly to children and
youth, the committee found.
"By the time they are 14 years old, 52 percent of boys and 32 percent of
girls are drinking three or more eight-ounce servings of soda a day," the
institute noted.
Community groups need to work to change zoning so that walking and bicycling
are safer, the report added, and the federal government should convene a
conference to look for other ways to tackle the
problem.
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