Weighing In On "Generation XXL"

TULSA WORLD

Sunday, January 18, 2004

With too many empty calories filling up - and out - our kids, some right thinkers are doing more than chewing the fat over how best to attack obesity, the No. 1 health issue facing our children.

Shaping up is a full assault on the behaviors, environment and attitudes that are rapidly supersizing a generation.  On Thursday at the governor's office, the Oklahoma Fit Kids Coalition, a group of political, education, business, civic, and health-care leaders, will launch an initiative to:

	Replace unhealthy school vending machine drinks and snacks with healthy options.
	Encourage re-establishment of regular physical education in public school curriculums.
	Integrate nutrition education into school curriculums.
	Establish a health advisory committee at every school.
	Require public disclosure of school soft drink contracts.
	Propose incentive pricing where vending machines would dispense healthy options at lower prices than regular snacks.

If this sounds like the creation of a food-police state, there are worse things to worry about. Consider the incidence of Type 2 diabetes in kids. Fully a third of American children are at risk for the disease, a phenomenon virtually unheard of 30 years ago when physical education was mandatory in most schools and kids were called Baby Boomers instead of Generation XXL.

The rise in diabetes "clearly has to do with lack of exercise and the way they eat," said Stanley Hupfeld, president and chief executive of INTEGRIS Health System, and chair of the coalition. "This ought to concern us."

INTEGRIS, one of the state's largest employers, is leading the charge for nutritional reform, much as it led the move for tobacco reform. INTEGRIS, which operates several hospitals in central and western Oklahoma, already has introduced healthy changes in diet and exercise at a charter elementary school it took over several years ago in one of Oklahoma City's poorest neighborhoods.

The Fit Kids Coalition is aiming for diet, policy and exercise changes in public schools because that is a logical venue to start in a state that rapidly is becoming the Big O in obesity numbers.  By 2008, three in every 10 adult Oklahomans will be obese.  Fifteen percent of our teenagers are considered obese right now.  

Oklahoma's population is the third most sedentary in the nation, and among the chunkiest.  Oklahomans can't seem to find time to get out of the Krispy Kreme line long enough to move our bodies.  Eighty-two percent of Oklahomans do no exercise - period.  That's five points below the national average.  Eighty percent of us eat fewer than five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.  As a result, a lot of us look a lot like the food pyramid but we seldom follow it.

The question remains, however:  Will the initiative take off?

Hupfeld thinks it might.

"You reach a tipping point.  This may not be the year the Legislature and public are ready for changes.  Even if we're spectacularly unsuccessful we will have raised the public awareness," Hupfeld said.  "Obesity now is believed to be eclipsing tobacco as the main contributor to early mortality.  There is value in raising the level of public debate."

A Dec. 10 poll showed that two-thirds of Oklahomans want school vending machines removed that contain soda and candy.  Eighty-four percent agree PE should be a school requirement.

The coalition would like 150 minutes a week set aside for PE and classes on health and nutrition issues.

In years past, INTEGRIS waged an aggressive campaign against tobacco, the use of which makes Oklahoma one of the five unhealthiest states.

INTEGRIS is using a similar approach to fighting childhood obesity.  Provocative ads focus on the imperiled "Generation XXL," which may, says one ad, "become the first generation expected to live shorter lives than their parents."

The argument that people "ought to have the right to do with their body what they want is not persuasive when it comes to the issue," Hupfeld said.

"We're not only looking out for you.  Somebody will have to pay to take care of you."

The state Health Department projects that in four years the direct and indirect costs of treating Oklahoma's obesity epidemic - including money spent on related illnesses, lost work and dietary products - will surpass the $1.3 billion now needed annually to address the negative effects of tobacco use.

"The bottom line is if we say we can't do anything because of personal freedoms, this epidemic will continue," Hupfeld said.

Obesity is the No. 1 health problem facing Oklahoma children.  We all should weigh in with full support for the initiative.  Otherwise we'll all lose.