Zoning restrictions on fast-food restaurants near schools and playgrounds, community policing to improve safety around public recreational sites, requirements that publicly run after-school programs limit video game and TV time, and taxes on high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and drinks are some of the strategies local government officials can use to tackle the childhood obesity epidemic in their communities, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council.
The report highlights several examples of ways that officials have promoted healthier lifestyles in communities ranging from big cities to small towns. It also recommends starting points that could help officials initiate childhood obesity prevention plans tailored to their jurisdictions' resources and needs.
Local governments play a crucial role in the fight against childhood obesity by creating environments that make it either easy or hard for children to eat healthier diets and move more, said the committee of health experts that wrote the report. The staggering increase in childhood obesity and the costs associated with obesity underscore the urgency for prevention efforts at the community level. Over the past 35 years -- less than half a lifetime -- the percentage of American adolescents who are obese has tripled, rising from 5 percent to almost 18 percent. A report published in HEALTH AFFAIRS in July estimated that obesity tallied $147 billion in medical costs in 2008.
"The healthy choice must be the easy choice," said committee chair Eduardo J. Sanchez, vice president and chief medical officer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. "Although leisure activities and food consumption are personal matters, local environments influence the choices people make. It's hard to eat fruit instead of chips or cookies when neighborhood stores carry little fresh produce, or to bike to school on busy roads with no bike lanes. Local officials can make a dent in the obesity epidemic, as demonstrated by the examples we highlighted in this report."