Reducing Obesity

Just recently on July 24, an article in Medpage today, a medical magazine, published an article titled "Congress Urged to Act to Help Childhood Obesity Rates." This article urges congress to take a more forceful action in the increasing obesity rates among children. Dr. Thompson, Arkansas surgeon general, and colleagues have passed along some suggestions to help stop child obesity. Dr. Thompson stated that Arkansas used school based programs to lessen childhood obesity in the state of Arkansas, which is often ranked at the bottom of the least healthy states in the United States. In 2003, state legislation created a childhood obesity prevention program that established physical activity requirements, increased access to healthy foods in schools and mandated issuing confidential body mass index report cards for all public school children. Dr. Thompson states "we've done everything we can think of at the state level; we need the help of Congress and local governments to do more."
Among other suggestions:
1. Give the U.S. Department of Agriculture broader authority to regulate foods sold in vending machines and schools.
2. Increase federal reimbursement rates for school meals to offset the pricier cost of foods.
3. Reauthorize No Child Left Behind to require schools to report a "physical education quality score," in addition to academic scores.
4. Boost funding in the federal surface transportation bill for the "Safe Routes to School" program so children can safely walk or bike to school.
5. Create incentives to spur responsible land use decisions that encourage walking and biking in more communities.
6. Include obesity as a treatable condition in the State Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicare plans.