It is often cheaper to prevent than to treat a problem. Nowhere is this more true than with diet and childhood obesity.
I see children in my office daily whose parents, in their struggle to make ends meet, have their kids eat school lunches. These meals are heavily subsidized by the federal government, which also decides what foods end up on the trays. Unfortunately, most of the choices are processed meat and dairy products loaded with fat, salt and cholesterol. This leaves kids nutritionally deprived and obese.
As a pediatrician, it is my duty to educate my patients and their parents about obesity. But my families have no fighting chance when their kids eat school lunches. All the good choices they might make are wiped out. This leaves the taxpayer alone to pay for the health consequences of our children's obesity.
That's why it's so crucial that new legislation help schools in California and across the country serve meals that support children's well-being and lower the long-term health care costs of obesity.
The U.S. taxpayer pays on average $175 per year to finance obesity, according to Eric A. Finkelstein, author of "The Fattening of America." We need to tell Congress that we want our tax dollars spent on providing children with healthy meals and teaching healthy eating habits, not treating their obesity-related health conditions down the road. This year, the United States spent $100 billion on obesity-related health care expenditures.
Health care and lost productivity due to obesity cost California $41.2 billion in 2006. California Controller John Chiang estimates "the economic cost to California of adults who are obese, overweight and physically inactive is equivalent to more than a third of the state's total budget."
The financial and personal burdens of obesity, with its increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and other obesity-related conditions, will only increase as these children reach adulthood .
In my practice, I have obese children with high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Many of them have skin changes called acanthosis nigricans, an early sign of type 2 diabetes. These are things we used to see only in middle-aged adults. No more, and because of it, I order more lab tests, have to see these patients more often and refer them more often to nutritionists, gastroenterologists, cardiologists or endocrinologists than their non-overweight peers.
Bottom line: We can't afford obesity. But now we have an opportunity to fight the economic and social harms of obesity.
This year, Congress will vote on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which determines what foods are served to children in school and other nutrition programs. Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, is chair of the Committee on Education and Labor. He is in the unique position to change the physical as well as financial health of California - and of the entire nation.
In order to stop the upward trend of obesity, we must focus on prevention. We must educate families and communities to buy fresh foods, prepare home-cooked meals, avoid fast food and engage in physical activity.
Yet, that alone will not be enough. Kids need fresh, wholesome food for school lunch - and a menu that complies with the USDA's food pyramid. It is time for Congress to align food policy with nutritional guidelines.
Contact Miller to get school lunches a better grade for your child's health - and our fiscal future.
Dr. Rina Shah is a pediatrician in Vallejo.
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