Goal: Cut Child Obesity From 20% to 5% by 2030
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Laura J. Martin, MDMay 11, 2010 -- Spearheaded by Michelle Obama, a new presidential initiative would reverse the child obesity epidemic.
The goal, as set out in a report from the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity, is to reduce childhood obesity from 20% to 5% by 2030.
To accomplish this, the plan makes 70 recommendations for early childhood, for parents and caregivers, for school meals and nutrition education, for access to healthy food, and for increasing physical activity.
"For the first time, the nation will have goals, benchmarks, and measurable outcomes that will help us tackle the childhood obesity epidemic one child, one family, and one community at a time," Obama says in a news release.
U.S. kids haven't always been obese. Only one in 20 children ages 2 to 19 was obese in the 1970s. But around 1980 child obesity began to rocket to today's stratospheric level: Nearly one in three kids is overweight or obese, and nearly one in five is frankly obese.
Everyone knows obese kids face worse health than their normal-weight peers. What this means is that higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and lung disease may lower children's life expectancy below that of their parents.
Other effects are becoming apparent. The U.S. armed forces now warn that one in four Americans aged 17 to 24 is too heavy for military service.
To reverse these trends, the White House plan seeks to cut child obesity and overweight rates by 2.5% by 2015 and by 5% by 2020. It's not a vague goal. Scorekeeping will be up to the CDC, which reports child obesity rates every two years.
Other measurements:
The number of children eating a healthy diet as measured by the USDA Healthy Eating Index. A score of 80 out of 100 indicates a healthy diet. Today's score: 55.9. The goal is to score 65 by 2015 and 70 by 2020.
The amount of sugar in children's diets.
The amount of fruits and vegetables in children's diets.
The number of children meeting yet-to-be-established physical activity guidelines
http://children.webmd.com/news/20100511/michelle-obama-plan-to-end-child-obesity-epidemic
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its about time that our country makes some strides tward obecity prevention, especially in children. too often in our society are we overwelmed with a stress on mental education, I think physical education should be just as importaint in school.
ReplyDeleteGood article. It is a shame that once again people need the government to help with something we should be able to do ourselves. what is next a government program on butt wiping?
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