Childhood obesity dates to the Kennedy administration, and has been getting worse since
Honey, we have not shrunk the kids
New research published this week revealed some discouraging news: American kids are getting fatter.
We’ve become used to hearing that. Since 1980, the number of obese children in the US has more than tripled overall, while in some groups it’s shot up even more. The latest figures show the percentages of severely obese and morbidly obese kids are also on the rise.
A much-celebrated study, published in 2014, found obesity rates had dropped among toddlers by more than 40% between 2003 and 2012. Advocacy groups and the White House cheered the data, but as the new research suggests, the celebrations may have been premature.
Since the US government began tracking obesity rates in 1963, children’s rates of overweight and obesity have climbed. Some data suggest that our collective weight began rising as early as the turn of the last century, but the most pronounced, documented rise began in the 1980s.
This despite Congressional and White House efforts to tackle the problem.
President John F. Kennedy’s Presidential Council on Physical Fitness (a revamping of a similarly named program established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower) encouraged millions of school kids to get active in 1963. In December, 1960, as president-elect, Kennedy published a story in Sports Illustrated, headlined, “The Soft American,” in which he warned of the threat of flabbiness to national security and signaled he would attempt to tackle the country’s expanding waistline.
“We face in the Soviet Union a powerful and implacable adversary determined to show the world that only the Communist system possesses the vigor and determination necessary to satisfy awakening aspirations for progress and the elimination of poverty and want,” Kennedy wrote. “To meet the challenge of this enemy will require determination and will and effort on the part of all Americans. Only if our citizens are physically fit will they be fully capable of such an effort.”
1977In 1977, a Select Senate Committee headed by Senator George McGovern, a Democrat from South Dakota, released the first “Dietary Goals for the United States,” known also as the “McGovern Report.” The report laid the foundation for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, first released in 1980. The guidelines called for Americans to watch their intake of saturated fat, sugar, and sodium. Critics have noted that obesity rates began rising after their first publication, although other factors — including increased screen time and greater access to fast food — have largely contributed. The guidelines are published every five years, based on the latest review of nutritional science.
1998 In 1998 the National Institutes of Health changed its definition of overweight and obesity by lowering the body-mass-index that qualifies as either. The new definition meant 25 million more Americans were immediately considered overweight or obese — a warning flag intended to make people try to lose weight. The same year, the American Heart Association added obesity to its list of risk factors for heart attacks.
2010 First Lady Michelle Obama launched the Let’s Move initiative in 2010 to tackle childhood obesity. Obama took some largely symbolic steps, like planting a White House garden, but also enlisted the help of big names, like Beyoncé, to encourage kids to get active. Obama also shepherded a law that revamped school nutrition standards, making them more healthy by calling for increased whole grains and lowered sodium.
