Obesity

For the first time in more than 15 years, school meal standards have been changed with a focus on improving child nutrition and reducing childhood obesity.  With the potential to impact more than 30 million students daily, these new guidelines will introduce more fruit and vegetables and reduce fat intake on lunch trays.  State policies and local practices can have a positive impact on the devastating rates of obesse and overweight children as students have an opportunity for more healthful eating.

Obesity rates are climbing fast. In fact, just one-third of American adults have a normal weight, and an equal proportion is obese. Overall, men are more likely to be obese. Obesity is linked to chronic disease and is an economic drain on the nation.

Childhood obesity continues to be a problem for the nation's children. Hispanic boys and African-American girls are disproportionately affected. States are trying a variety of programs to reduce the growth of childhood obesity. 

In 2006, lots of kids in West Virginia started dancing to a video game—not in an arcade—but in a school.  The game—called Dance Dance Revolution—incorporates dance moves to the latest pop songs, lighting up the steps on a special floor mat for players to follow.  Those kids got moving when schools saw the success in a 2004 effort launched by the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency. It was an effort to address the problem of childhood obesity and help the children of the agency’s members lose weight.

America’s first lady, Michelle Obama, has an ambitious goal—to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. Her initiative, “Let’s Move!,” builds on promising approaches to provide states, schools, families and communities proven tools to help kids be more active, eat better and get healthy.

The interest in taxing soda on a state level has rebounded in recent months. While only 14 states levy a sales tax on food for home consumption, 39 states and Washington, D.C., impose a sales tax on at least some soda purchases. In some of these states, the tax is simply part of the sales tax that applies to food; in others, it is a separate or higher tax.