Today, youth in America face an obesity crisis that is unprecedented in our history. Obesity rates have skyrocketed by 300% over the last 30 years, with dramatic implications for our children and our society. Children born in 2000 have a 1-in-3 chance of developing type 2 diabetes during their lifetime, and 70% of obese 5- to 17-year-olds in a population-based study had at least 1 risk factor for cardiovascular disease. If the childhood obesity epidemic is not reversed, our society will bear the pain and cost of high rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and other obesity-related chronic diseases. The tragedy is that these consequences are preventable. We know that prevention of disease is cost-effective and ethical; treatment is costly and painful.
How exactly do we prevent childhood obesity? It is not a mystery to anyone that today's children are eating too many snack-like foods and beverages, eating too few nutritious foods, and not exercising enough, although children's activity levels are generally more in line with recommendations than are their diets. Currently only 1%-2% of US children meet the recommended Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the national nutrition standards for dietary intake necessary for optimal health. Children's intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains does not even come close to current recommendations. If we know what our children need to be healthy, why don't we, as adults, fix the problem? Is it lack of education about nutrition; an inadequate food supply; the power of food marketing; lack of access to healthy, affordable foods; or a failure of will?
One of the most important things we can do is provide children with access to healthful foods. The proposed Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 will do that by making significant improvements to our federally funded school meal program. This act will