Reuters, February 9, 2010

Alarmed that nearly a third of U.S. children are obese or overweight — and likely to stay that way all their lives — President Barack Obama launched an initiative on Tuesday to roll back the numbers and put his wife in charge of promoting it.

“I have set a goal to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight,” Obama said in signing the order at the White House.

He assigned his cabinet officers to meet within three months and come up with “a comprehensive interagency plan” and asked the first lady to head up a national public awareness effort.

Two industry groups, the American Beverage Association and the Grocery Manufacturers of America, both pledged to work with Michelle Obama to fight childhood obesity.

The ABA, which represents nonalcoholic beverage makers, said its members would voluntarily put clear, consumer-friendly nutritional information on the front of all their packages, vending machines and fountain machines by 2012.

“The companies will coordinate with the Food and Drug Administration to implement the calorie initiative, which will go above and beyond what is required by the federal agency’s food labeling regulations,” the ABA said in a statement.

The first lady said the administration had proposed an additional $10 billion over 10 years to update and strengthen the Child Nutrition Act.

“We can’t wait 90 days to get going here. So let’s move right now, starting today, on a series of initiatives to help achieve our goal,” she said, referring to the task force.

SECOND TRY

It is the second year in a row that the White House has proposed a $1 billion a year increase for child nutrition. Congress delayed the overhaul until this year because lawmakers could not find a way to pay for the increase last year.

Senate Health committee chairman Tom Harkin has sponsored legislation for government regulation of drinks and snacks sold in school vending machines, stores and similar outlets.

“The increasing urgency of this situation calls for an integrated strategy that employs real solutions to curb obesity and improve the health of our children,” Harkin said in a statement.

The independent Institute of Medicine has found in several studies that Americans will have to exercise more, eat less fatty and sugary food and eat more fruits and vegetables to overcome obesity and the heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other health problems it brings.

But the institute has also recommended policy changes to help people accomplish this — changes in zoning to encourage exercise, changes in school lunch programs, policies to encourage grocery stores to open in areas where healthy food is hard to come by and better public transport to get people out of their cars.

“Without effective intervention, many more children will endure serious illnesses that will put a strain on our healthcare system. We must act now to improve the health of our nation’s children and avoid spending billions of dollars treating preventable disease,” Obama said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that 68 percent of U.S. adults are overweight and half of these are obese, with a body mass index of 30 or higher.

Obesity rates were relatively stable between 1960 and 1980 but have risen rapidly since 1980.

via UPDATE1-Obamas take on problem of obese children | Reuters .