Originally written on May 1, 2010
The White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity just unveiled its plan to solve childhood obesity. The report’s recommendations ranged from encouraging schools to work with local growers to providing economic incentives for fruits, vegetables and grains to displaying calorie counts on restaurant menus.
The report leans heavily on parents, health care providers, the medical community and government agencies to drive solutions. The reality is that these constituencies have failed for over two decades to effect a lasting resolution to America’s overweight and obesity crisis.
Rather than highlighting seventy-odd recommendations on what should be done, we would be better served if focus were placed on the two most critical issues: (1) lowering the number of calories that our children eat, and (2) educating them how to eat well. And that means engaging the food marketers and suppliers.
Why calories? Because calories available for individual consumption have increased by 30% since 1970. Efforts to ban or limit high fructose corn syrup, sodium and saturated fats only diffuse focus on the real issue. Lower calories and, surprise, fats and sweeteners also go down.
A good place to start is in our school systems. Schools offer a “controlled” environment unlike home or play situations. School districts can immediately demand that their foodservice and vending machine suppliers lower the average number of calories they sell per student by 20%. This can be achieved by reconfiguring entrée meals or providing lower calorie snacks in vending machines. And profit margins would not be hampered.
Second, instead of limiting or banning advertising to children, we should leverage the $1.6 billion spent on child food ads to educate them by incorporating a portion control and/or nutritional and/or exercise message. All ads directed to children must contain these messages and they would be limited to products that meet certain science-based nutrition standards. This $1.6 billion in advertising dwarfs available government funds for education and would make a serious dent in communicating important nutritional messages to children.
It’s time to look beyond recycled solutions and capitalize on the food marketer’s ability to effect positive change.
Subscribe
Hank, there was a crisis just waiting to blossom over the past forty years. I believe Kennedy was the past and most noteworthy president promoting physical education and fitness. Now only 1/6 of schools offers PE and I am sure a significant amount of those that do may not even require students to sweat. The very profitable fast food industry came at a time when we just needed the fast food. Both parents working made cooking difficult. Everything led us down the path of self destruction. Obesity is not knew but due to the miracles of modern medicine whe are able to keep obese and everyone else living longer so we see more of it. They are just really sick. I see them everyday with diabetes, heart disease. I am an anesthesiologist working in an inner city hospital in a city that is filing for bankruptcy. I see middle America. They are costing our economy a bundle.
Hank, you probably are already familiar with T. Colin Campbell’s book The China Study giving scientific evidence to just what you are talking about, our need to change our diets. Fabulous book. Very inspiring to me. Ira Schwalb, MD
Actually, the deep route of the problem is marketing. You are a marketer. You would understand how influential you can be to the public. You are the product. You can make or break the product. Been reading a great book, The Power of Habits, marketing turned Fabreze from a dying odor eliminating to a very desirable and profitable scent. People have habits and marketers know the cues and rewards to get people to do their routines of overheating or smoking or not exercising. The habit loop that can be manipulated. Very interesting stuff to change people.
I agree very much with the education of children and changing the nutrition content of their meals. Right now are routines are to eat unhealthy foods. That routine can be changed.