Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

Healthy People 2010 Goal 19: Nutrition and Overweight

Goals:
1. Increase quality and years of healthy life
2. Eliminate health disparities by race and ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic
status, disability status, and other characteristics

Objective 19-1:
Increase the proportion of adults who are at a healthy weight
Target: 60%
Baseline: 42% of adults aged 20 years and older were at a healthy weight in 1988-1994
*A healthy weight is defined as a body mass index equal to or greater than 18.5 and less
than 25

Progress:
The progress quotient charts shows that we have moved 50% away from the target goal of 60% during the survey dates of 1988-1994 to 1999-2002. Objective 19-1 has decreased from 42 percent to 33 percent.

Disparities:
Race and Ethnicity- The group with the best rate from the baseline was Non-Hispanic/White population. The group with a 10-49% disparity from the best group was Hispanic or Latino.
Gender, Income, Disability- The group who had the best rate was females at a higher income level and without disabilities. Males at a lower income level rated less than 10% compared to women with no disabilities and higher income. Male and females with disabilities rated the worst.

Opportunities and Challenges:
We need national action and community involvement working together to promote healthy diets among all Americans and to ensure the reverse the trend of increased overweight and obesity. We also need to promote policies and programs that support healthy behaviors in youth to meet our goal in the prevention of obesity and diet-related disease in the United States.

Emerging Issues:
With the increase in technology more and more procedures are becoming available to reduce the effects of obesity and weight. It is becoming clear that rather than treatment, prevention may be the key in reversing the trend in increased obesity in the United States.

H.R. 812:
Title: To prevent legislative and regulatory functions from being taken over by civil liability actions brought or continued against food manufacturers, marketers, distributors, advertisers, sellers, and trade associations for claims of injury relating to a person's weight gain, obesity, or any health condition associated with weight gain or obesity. In other words...manufacturers, marketers, distributors, advertisers, and sellers should not be able to have legal action brought against them for injury or health problems that arise from someone eating their foods.
Sponsor: Rep. Dan Boren
Last Major Action: On 2/3/2009 it was referred to House Committee.
Status: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

My View: The fault does not lie within the food manufactures, marketers, distributors, advertisers, ect., but rather in the education people receive as children from parents/guardians, schools/teachers, and role models.

My Political Representative: Amy Klobuchar

• By supporting My Pyramid and Coordinated School Health Programs, education on healthy eating should begin with our youth. If a child learns how to eat healthy and stay active they are more likely to carry that lifestyle throughout their adult lives.
• By by writing to our representatives stating our concerns about overweight kids leading overweight adult lives we can raise awareness of the problem. There needs to be more responsibility put on the schools and parents instead of blaming the food manufactures.