More Thoughts on Obesity

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, this crazy thing called grad school got in the way. But I did want to follow up on last week's post about how best to address the problem of childhood obesity. Before we get to that though, a few things. First, I am not, nor do I pretend to be an expert on any issues, least of all obesity. I'm just a wee public health student sharing my thoughts. Second, I do love that my last post about soda taxes prompted so much discussion, I think it's great that you all are not only reading, but sharing your thoughts. So please continue to do so!

Ok, on to the main attraction. Last week, I talked about how I wasn't a huge fan of a soda tax as a way to fight childhood obesity. So lets talk about what I am a fan of. I should start by saying, I don't think any one thing will be successful, it will take a comprehensive plan. But here are some key elements:

• Better health education about nutrition. We have to help parents and children understand what proper nutrition is and what it means to be appropriately physically active. I think this is one area in which public health has been a bit behind in the times. It's easy for people to be swayed by food advertising, the public health community has to do a better job getting the message out there. And it's got to be more than just about counting calories--portion sizes, healthy choices, healthier cooking methods, being active--all these things can be part of a comprehensive, culturally appropriate, health education campaign. This means it can't be a one-PSA across the whole country sort of thing, it needs to be tailored to particular audiences.
• Provide incentives for grocery stores to open in what are currently food deserts (areas that lack access to affordable, quality and nutritious food). Too often these food deserts coincide with low-income areas, which means that not only is there limited access to healthy options, these options are prohibitively expensive. As has been pointed out by many, obesity disproportionately affects low income people. If we're really going to solve this obesity problem, we have to give everyone an equal opportunity to access healthy nutritious food.
• Re-think the way we currently subsidize food. The way we currently subsidize food has made food cheaper, which is good, but it has tended to make unhealthy food the cheapest, which is bad. We should revisit these subsidies and figure out a way to subsidize fresh fruits and vegetables and drive the cost of these, and other healthy options, down. Again, that gives people a better opportunity to make healthy choices with a limited budget.
• Change how we build and maintain our communities. Why can't we make sure that we build more sidewalks so that people can walk safely in their neighborhood? And we need to ensure that our children have safe places to play and be active. There's a group here in Boston that has had some really good success in working within communities to empower youth to help clean up parks and make them safe places to be. Working within the community to make changes will be an important part of being successful.

There are of course more components, but at the risk of putting you all to sleep, I think I'll stop here. Just as a note, a lot of these things are also a part of First Lady Michelle Obama's new Let's Move campaign--hopefully it will be successful. Also, if you're interested in a really neat map tool that clearly illustrates some of the disparities that we face in area of nutrition, I'd encourage you to check out the FDA's Food Environment Atlas (thanks to Rachel for the link!).

Finally, because I don't want to be accused of hiding information, a study came out recently which showed that taxing unhealthy food was more effective than subsidizing healthy food. I haven't had a chance to read the whole study, but it is interesting and certainly seems to support what some of you all were saying about a soda tax. However, I still think that if you don't have access to healthy food, then taxing unhealthy food only makes it all cost more. I'd rather go the method of improving access and empowering individuals to make healthy choices.

As always, please share your thoughts! And remember, as part of my marathon training, I'm raising money to support research to fight childhood obesity and solve these important problems. I'd appreciate your support, you can make a contribution at: http://www.tuftsmarathonchallenge.com/runners/miriamst.