Over 38 million Americans are obese, and obesity-related illnesses, from diabetes to heart disease, contribute to more than 300,000 deaths and $117 billion in health care costs annually. Among children and adolescents, 13 percent are overweight. That's a sign that things are getting worse: There are three times as many overweight adolescents today than there were 20 years ago.
State Representative Peter Koutoujian, chairman of the Massachusetts House Health Care Committee, contends that public schools have a role in combating these trends and teaching their students the basics of a healthy diet. Most schools agree, pointing to classrooms where nutrition pyramids hang on the wall and gymnasiums where physical fitness is a priority. But it's the fried-food-friendly cafeteria lines and candy-filled vending machines that send a different message altogether.
In July, Koutoujian introduced H.B. 3519, with the obesity epidemic in mind. It targets naturally and artificially sweetened beverages and fatty foods, prohibiting them from being sold at schools' concession stands, cafeterias, and vending machines 30 minutes before school starts to 30 minutes after it ends. Included foods are those in which fat contributes more than 35 percent of total calories or saturated fat makes up more than 10 percent.
"This is not in a vacuum, either" Koutoujian said. "This is about educating our children as well as their parents." The legislation includes provisions to establish a special commission examining childhood obesity in Massachusetts and how it is perceived by the public. The commission will also explore another key part of the long-term public health equation: students' physical education requirements.
Koutoujian, who has represented the state's 10th Middlesex District since 1996 and is currently president of the Massachusetts Legislators Association, has found the trends in childhood obesity "particularly troubling" for many years. At first, though, it was hard to find others interested in tackling the problem with him. But recent reports from the U.S. Surgeon General and the Harvard School of Public Health have provided the evidence that new solutions are needed now. "A window of opportunity to discuss these issues has opened up," he said.
Since introducing the bill, Koutoujian has been contacted by "unanimously supportive" parents, teachers' groups, and superintendents across the state. Koutoujian attributes the bill's early popularity to its reasonable approach. "I didn't go to the extreme," he said. The bill contains neither a complete ban of vending machines, nor any complicated 'sin' taxes. "Those options just weren't pragmatic. I've tried to do something that can actually help children, something that's not just tilting at windmills," he said.
Some critics, like the Grocery Manufacturers of America and the Massachusetts Vending Association, note that children spend plenty of time outside of school where they may have easy access to all of those foods that the bill prohibits. But Koutoujian argues that schools charged with acting "in loco parentis" have the responsibility of providing a proper diet. If parents feed their children a healthy diet at home, Koutoujian said, "then we should not be undoing it with an unhealthy diet at school." If parents aren't watching their children's eating habits, then at least educators can provide a positive model at school. It works both ways.
Koutoujian is optimistic about the bill's future, but regardless of its fate on Beacon Hill, he is pleased with the fact that people are finally acknowledging childhood obesity as a serious health problem. "Never before has this much attention been paid to this issue. Now, there's a tidal wave of discussion."
