States and cities, exercised over obesity, work to fight it

States and cities, exercised over obesity, work to fight it
Proposals include support for healthy living, junk-food ban

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

By ROBERT TANNER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fighting to shed a few pounds and control that waistline? For the soaring
number of Americans who are becoming dangerously overweight, states and
cities across the country want to help.

With the U.S. surgeon general calling obesity an epidemic, legislators
nationwide are offering measures to encourage healthy food choices and ban
the worst temptations.

Skeptics say government should stay away from trying to legislate something
as personal as what we eat. But supporters say they can't ignore a growing
public health problem or how it drives the ever-rising cost of health care.

Few ideas have become law yet. But states have considered scores of bills
this year that would, among other things: get youths exercising; warn
restaurant eaters about fat, sugar and cholesterol on the menu; and, ban
sugary sodas and fattening chips from school vending machines.

In a Louisiana experiment, the state will pay for a few government
employees' gastric bypass surgery -- or stomach stapling -- to see whether
it reduces health care costs.

"As a country, we have to wake up. We are in an epidemic," said Nevada
state Sen. Valerie Wiener, who has had her own battles with weight but now
is a champion weightlifter.

She heads a state committee gathering data on obesity, and how the
legislature, food companies, the health care system and schools can act.
"We're all paying the price," she said.

Under the laws that have passed, states will:


Test the BMI -- body-mass index, a ratio of height to weight -- of students
in six Arkansas schools and send results home. Pediatricians say regular
tests such as that should be performed nationwide to track children at risk
of becoming obese.


Ban junk food from vending machines in California. New York City, in an
administrative decision, banned hard candy, doughnuts, soda and salty chips
from its vending machines.


Require physical education programs in Louisiana schools and encourage it
in Arkansas and Mississippi. Though once a staple, such daily classes are
now required by state law only in Illinois; other states let local
authorities decide or require exercise less often.

Public campaigns aimed at getting people to change their eating habits also
remain popular. Billboards across West Virginia, featuring photos of
bulging stomachs and couch potatoes, exhort people to "Put Down Chips &
Trim Those Hips." Houston, Philadelphia and San Antonio, Texas have started
"get fit" drives.

The statistics show the need for such efforts. The number of obese adults
has doubled in 20 years and now is nearly 59 million people, or almost a
third of all American adults.

Childhood obesity has tripled, with one child in six considered obese.

As the pounds add up, so do the health care costs, because obesity is
linked to diabetes, heart disease and deaths from cancer -- among other
ailments.

West Virginia found that, for state employees, costs for obesity have more
than doubled since 1995, rising from $37 million to $78 million, now nearly
a fifth of the employees' $400 million health plan.

Still, some are critical both of the statistics and the proposals.

"There's a lot of fear and hysteria," said Mike Burita at the Center for
Consumer Freedom, an advocacy group for the restaurant and food industry.
"We're allowing government and these public health groups to dictate our
food choices to us."

Among his top targets is the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a
consumer advocacy group that produces a steady flow of warnings about
unhealthy food, from movie popcorn to Chinese takeout.

"It's OK to have a cheeseburger and fries, but it shouldn't be a mainstay
of your diet," Burita said. Exercise and education are the solutions, he
said. "Kids went from playing dodge ball to playing computer games."

The skeptics are being heard. A Texas proposal to limit schoolchildren's
access to snack and soda vending machines died after the state soft drink
association complained. Most of the 80 or so obesity-related bills around
the country also failed to pass.

"It's difficult to want to tackle something like this, something as huge as
this," said Weiner, the Nevada lawmaker. She plans to bring together people
from the food industry and the public health community to work with
lawmakers.

The federal government is acting, too. The Bush administration urged
insurance companies to offer premium discounts to people with healthier
lifestyles. It has started giving grants to cities to target unhealthy
habits.

More immediate changes are brewing on the state and local level.

In West Virginia, the state agency that insures public employees has
started offering exercise benefits and diet counseling, in addition to the
state's advertising campaign.

"If we don't get a handle on this, this generation of kids coming up will
have a shorter life span than their parents," said Nidia Henderson,
wellness manager at West Virginia's Public Employees Insurance Agency.
"That's scandalous."

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On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 18:06:04 GMT, JeanC wrote:

NR must not be getting any action this week. Somebody found out he
has an STD.

LV

Remove "intel" from address to reply

Lady Veteran
- -----------------------------------
"I rode a tank and held a general's rank
when the blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank..."
- -Rolling Stones, Sympathy for the Devil
- ------------------------------------------------
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately
explained by stupidity.---Anonymous
- -----------------------------------------------
He who thinks by the inch and talks by the
yard deserves to be kicked by the foot.
- Anonymous
- ---------------------------------------------
People who hide behind anonymous remailers and
ridicule fat people are cowardly idiots with no
motive but malice.
- ---------------------------------------------
Reputation is what other people know about you.
Honor is what you know about yourself.
- Lois McMaster Bujold
- ---------------------------------------
I didn't start it, but I may finish it.
- ---------------------------------------------
I heard that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the
Gropen Fuhrer of California
- ----------------------------------------------


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