Lawmakers in Washington riding a strong impetus from the Obama administration will soon convene to discuss a ban on junk foods— including various sugary beverages fatty foods and candy— in America’s schools. In place of barred foods and beverages schools would be required to offer nutritious alternatives. The envisioned legislation coincides with first lady Michelle Obama’s budding “Let’s Move” campaign to combat childhood obesity in the United States.
The spotlight on childhood obesity couldn’t be more timely. One-third of children and two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight. Childhood obesity has tripled over the past three decades. It is a public health nightmare and this trend is largely to blame for our crippling burden of disability and chronic disease.
Adding credence to the pending legislation is compelling evidence that early lifestyle habits have a prolonged impact on a person’s health throughout life. A study just released in the New England Journal of Medicine followed thousands of children through adulthood and found that the heaviest were more than twice as prone to premature death before the age of 55. The researchers concluded that obesity early in life triggers serious health problems that appear later in life.
This discussion delivers a humbling reminder of how damaging the Western diet is. For everything we do right we really need to kick this habit.
The problem is further exacerbated by other factors— our tendency for sedentary lifestyles our attachment to television and the like our devaluation of nature and the outdoors and our reluctance to be physically active for simple leisure. It is a subtle irony that hamburgers sodas and chocolate bars though they may be inextricably woven into the American fabric deprive us of the good health that enables opportunity.
In the past partisan conflict has brewed over who should regulate school food offerings— the federal government or school boards. Regardless the status quo is unsustainable. We face a public health crisis that will only continue to spiral out of control if no interventions take place. Unlike many of the challenges we face this one has a promising policy solution.
There are precedents for a federal intervention into school nutrition. Junk food has long been barred from official school food programs. Students continue to have access to unhealthy foods only because they are offered unofficially outside school programs or through vending machines. A more comprehensive set of restrictions on junk food in schools seems a logical extension of previously enacted bans.
Furthermore over the past few years more school districts have restricted students’ access to candy and sugary beverages. Encouragingly these more rigorous policies seem to have helped hold childhood obesity to its current plateau according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Preserving the jurisdiction of school boards is generally sensible but in this case their collective inertia would delay the needed measures for too long. Too often it seems policymakers become sidetracked by their disparate approaches and lose sight of the common goal. Simple cost-benefit analyses merit more use. If the benefits outweigh the costs considerably then the objective should be pursued in the swiftest and most practical fashion possible. Without question the urgency of the childhood obesity epidemic should take precedence over political considerations.
The criticisms of a federal junk food ban have merit but can certainly be negated. Some contend that parents— not the government— are responsible for imbuing children with positive lifestyle habits. That would be preferable in an ideal world— but time has shown this approach to be impractical and dangerously ineffective. Where parents or school boards fall short government policy can provide much-needed direction.
If for nothing else but the considerable time spent away from home schools inevitably influence the way young people think and behave. Habits are forged early in life and that means schools furnish much more than an education. For young people lessons are learned by virtue of what is and isn’t allowed and readily available.
Personal responsibility can’t be expected to prevail here because of the nature of being young. Immediate rewards will frequently predominate over the long-term concept of health. Making mistakes is a part of growing up. Society’s obligation is to at least set youngsters on the right path.
A policy solution for reducing childhood obesity would be a step forward. Any problem of this magnitude will require a multifaceted approach— improved school nutrition a renewal of physical activity easier access to healthy food choices and better food labeling standards— like that advanced by the first lady’s campaign. It will require too a willingness to dramatically change the way we do things. But if there ever was a right time to try it’s now.
