Ana M.

Retamal ENGL1313 Professor: Christopher Dickman Project 2- Making a Change Proposal

Bottom of the Food Chain: The Child Obesity Environment

Executive Summary With approximately 33 percent of U.S. children being considered overweight and 16 percent obese, obesity-prevention is an urgent national healthcare concern. Experts agree that a personalresponsibility approach is not working, especially with children, who are more susceptible to their unhealthy food environments. Education efforts must be coupled with drastic preventative measures in public policy. Since Dallas is one of the 10 most overweight cities in the nation, the repercussions of childhood obesity will continue to waste millions of Dallas tax-payer dollars in healthcare costs for obesity-related treatments for: diabetes, pre-diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, sleep apnea, asthma, among other diseases. Given the urgency of the childhood obesity problem and the difficulty of personal-responsibility approaches, the public policy arena is the most promising response (Blacksher 28). Problem According to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), child obesity has received growing public attention in the United States because obesity rates have more than doubled in adults and children since the 1970s (qted from National Center for Health Statistics). In fact, approximately one-third of U.S. children are overweight, and 16 percent are obese. Although some measures have been taken to lower obesity, UnitedWayDallas.org reports that it continues

to be a worsening problem among children in some States with Texas coming in seventh place for the most obese children, and Dallas listed as one of the 10 most overweight cities in the nation. Obesity has been shown to have a direct impact on the following health risks in children and adults: diabetes, pre-diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Obesity is linked to unhealthy diet and insufficient physical activity, however, health experts, such as Dr. Barbara Cohen, Senior natural scientist at the RAND Corporation and author of the book A Big Fat Crisis, argue that self-control is not to blame for the spike in obesity, especially in children. Her research shows that the rise in obesity is the product of two forces. One is the immutable aspect of human nature, namely the fundamental limits of self-control and the unconscious ways we are hard-wired to eat. And second is the completely transformed modern food environment, including lower prices, larger portion sizes, and the outsized influence of food advertising. We live in a food swamp, where food is cheap, ubiquitous, and insidiously marketed (24). These two forces make children particularly vulnerable to harm because of their limited ability to make choices and their dependence on adults for food, plus they are more easily lured by marketing of unhealthy foods (Harris). Proposed Solution Who is responsible for the nations children when even the adults are victims to the limits of self-control and the abundance of environmental factors? Although health experts agree on many of the causes of childhood obesity, prevention efforts and responsibility for the problem remain controversial because they would require changes that would affect everyone on a State or federal level.

The most common recommendation nation-wide is for schools to do a better job at providing healthier lunches. According to Dora Rivas, Executive Director of Food and Child Nutrition Services of DISD, with our current year budget of $80 million we provide 120.000 lunches, 46.000 breakfast and 10.000 after school snacks at 215 school sites. In addition, during the summer we provide 20.000 summer meals. This would mean more tax dollars spent on healthy lunches, which would be comprised of fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meats, quality dairies and less processed flours, sugars and fried foods. However, obesity-related diseases account for millions of taxpayer dollars per year in Texas. In fact, according to Harvard School of Public
Health, the health care costs of obesity in the U.S. were estimated to be as high as $190 billion in 2005 (qted from Cawley and Meyerhoefer). So it actually is financially beneficial to invest in

nutritious meals at schools because it is cheaper than what we are spending now on Medicares coverage of obesity-related diseases. Another controversial recommendation is that some policies would restrict corporations which would add more regulations to the packaging of foods at grocery stores as well as more transparency in restaurant menus. New research published by the World Health Organization suggests that there is a direct correlation between market deregulation and obesity (De Vogli, 99). Advocates of free market economics believe that these policies would restrict businesses and corporations and that the American people are free to choose to eat what they want, when they want and they are simply supplying what the public demands: fast, accessible, inexpensive food that is open at all hours and are located in near proximity of each other (De Vogli, 105).

Environmental factors may cause children to find their food choices influenced by availability, price, and marketing of high-fat, low-nutrient processed foods. Messages targeting youth start from an early age wherever they congregate, including at school. In this environmental view of childhood obesity, public officials have a responsibility to intervene through policies described in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease (Kersh, Stroup and Wendell):

Controlling the conditions of sale (eg, limiting what schools can offer). Restricting advertising of high-fat, low-nutrient foods that targets young children or using other alternatives to increase awareness of what they are eating (eg, requiring calorie labels on menus).

Subsidizing healthier alternatives (eg, fruits and vegetables) that have much higher percalorie costs than do most other foods, many of which are or include ingredients (eg, corn syrup and sugar) that are subsidized under US farm policies.

Restricting or banning certain ingredients (eg, trans fats). Marketing unhealthy foods to children, portion sizes at restaurants, labeling foods through color code system, green good, red bad, etc.

The public should support these public policies in order to put a stop to the worsening problem of childhood obesity in Texas. If action is not taken, these environmental factors will continue to feed the obesity epidemic in children and adults in the nation.

Work Cited

Blacksher, Erika. Children's Health Inequalities: Ethical and Political Challenges to Seeking Social Justice. Hastings Center Report 38.3 (2008): 28-35. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. Food Research and Action Center. Initiative Fighting Obesity and Hunger: Overweight and Obesity in the U.S.: Web. 8 Feb. 2014. United Way Dallas. Coalition unveils plan to eliminate childhood obesity in Dallas by 2020. n.d. 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 8 Feb. 2014 Cohen, Barbara. A Big Fat Crisis. Nation Books P, 2014. Print. Harris JL, Graff SK. Protecting children from harmful food marketing: options for local government to make a difference. Preventing Chronic Diseases. 8.5 (2011): A92. Web. 9 Feb. 2014 Dallas Independent School District. Food and Child Nutrition Center. Web. 11 Feb. 2014 Harvard School of Public Health. Obesity Consequences: The High Cost of Excess Weight. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. De Vogli R, Kouvonen A, Gimeno D. The Influence of Market Deregulation on Fast Food Consumption and Body Mass Index: A Cross-National Times Series Analysis. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 92:99-107.

Kersh,Rogan, Donna F.Stroup, Childhood Obesity: A Framework for Policy Approaches and Ethical Preventing Chronic Disease. Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy. Considerations. Sep. 2011. 8. 5: A93. Web. 18 Feb. 2014