On October 5, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee heard testimony on childhood obesity and the role that public-private partnerships can play to increase physical activity and promote good nutrition among children. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) chaired the hearing.
Noting that childhood obesity “has reached epidemic proportions,” Sen. Frist explained that overweight and obese children “have a lower quality of life than their healthy peers. They suffer significantly higher rates of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, including sudden death, stroke, and congestive heart failure. They also are more likely to suffer musculoskeletal problems such as degenerative joint and disc diseases, psychological problems such as depression, and pulmonary complications.”
The committee heard testimony from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), sponsor of the Childhood Obesity Reduction Act (S. 2551). He explained that the measure would “give teachers, parents and other community leaders a one-stop shop to fight obesity.” Under the bill, $2.2 million would be authorized in FY2005 to establish the Congressional Council to Combat Childhood Obesity. Sen. Wyden noted that the council would “launch a comprehensive website to help everyone from PE [physical education] teachers to scout leaders learn what’s working in school and public-private programs. But it doesn’t stop there it will also offer advice on connecting with those successful programs and adapting them in their own schools.” After two years, the council would create a public-private foundation to award grants to schools wanting to implement model anti-obesity programs.
Dr. Dixie Snider, acting chief of science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) presented an overview of the overweight epidemic among children and youth: “Since 1980, the prevalence of overweight has more than doubled among children and tripled among adolescents. The latest data available from CDC shows that, between 1999 and 2002, 16 percent of children and adolescents were overweight, and another 15 percent were at risk for overweight. The increases in overweight among children and adolescents cut across all regions of the Nation, ages, racial and ethnic groups; however, more African-American and Mexican-American youth are overweight compared to white youth.” Dr. Snider also outlined the Department of Health and Human Services’ Steps to a Healthier U.S initiative, stating, “At the heart of this program lies both personal responsibility for the choices Americans make and social responsibility to ensure that policymakers support programs that foster healthy behaviors and prevent disease. The Steps initiative envisions a healthy, strong U.S. population supported by a health care system in which diseases are prevented when possible, controlled when necessary, and treated when appropriate.” Finally, Dr. Snider explained that the CDC has used its FY2004 funding “to support obesity prevention programs in a total of 28 states,” adding, “Examples of state health department activities that are helping children and adolescents include encouraging restaurants to make fruits and vegetables more available; improving lighting, sidewalks and crosswalks in neighborhoods as well as cleaning up and reclaiming vacant lots for use as physical activity and play areas; and training health care professionals to promote behavior changes.”
Testifying on behalf of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Chair Lynn Swann said that “only about one-half of U.S. young people (ages 12-21) regularly participate in vigorous physical activity. According to a study done by the National Association of Sports and Physical Education, children should engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily and should not be sedentary for more than 60 minutes at a time except when sleeping.” He explained that studies from the Department of Health and Human Services “show that if adults would engage in only 30 minutes of moderate, physical activity a day, such as brisk walking, on five or more days a week, it would decrease the risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers such as colon cancer as well as helping to prevent osteoporosis, arthritis, anxiety and depression.” In addressing the costs associated with obesity and related conditions, Mr. Swann urged Congress “to look at innovative ways to reduce staggering health care costs. Sometimes we need to shift our perspective to move in a new direction. Our entire health care system is organized around treating diseases after they occur, not preventing them before they occur. We need a paradigm shift that places prevention at the center of our health priorities. We need to focus not only on people who are already sick with chronic diseases but also on the generation that is growing up, the kids that are overweight at age two or three, and ill with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure by the time they are eight years old.”
Gary DeStefano, president of U.S. operations for the Nike Corporation, said that children who are physically active are more likely to graduate from high school, are less likely to use drugs, are less likely to have an unwanted pregnancy, are less likely to join a gang, and are less likely to develop an eating disorder. Explaining that only one in four public school students attends regular PE classes, he summarized Nike’s partnership with Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK), PE2GO: “PE2GO is a national, standards-based program designed by Nike and SPARK to help increase the quality and quantity of physical education in schools where P.E. classes have been drastically reduced or eliminated. Nike and SPARK deliver custom curriculum, training and equipment to classroom teachers, not P.E. teachers, to enable them to teach P.E. to fourth and fifth grade students.” Mr. DeStefano cited a National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation study that “found that expanding existing P.E. instruction nationwide to at least five hours per week for kindergarteners could reduce overweight levels in girls by 43 percent and in children at risk for overweight by 60 percent.”
