The fight against childhood obesity seems to be gaining momentum lately. Last month, HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, talked about making it a priority to reverse the trend at The Weight of the Nation conference. This week, a new report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council recommends steps local governments can take to cut the rates of childhood obesity. Putting a tax on soft drinks and junk food is high on the list.Taxing high sugar drinks has come up before. Do you think it’s a good solution? Would it keep you from buying soft drinks and junk food?
The reports says its suggestions are meant to make it easier for families to make healthier choices. Some of its other recommendations to fight childhood obesity include:
- Use zoning restrictions on fast-food restaurants near schools and playgrounds
- Require publicly run after-school programs to limit video game and TV time
- Build sidewalks that connect to schools, parks, and other destinations
How bad is childhood obesity? Check out the latest stats:
You can see more from the report here.
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I kinda agree on these ideas, but on the other hand I don’t. It’s not fair that healthy/fit kids have to be penalized for other parents’ lack of motivation to take responsibility for their child’s health.
My Junior High had a McDonald’s across the street, and my High School had a pizza shop nearby that was the after school hangout, but we all turned out okay.
Yum Yucky – So true for me, too. We had fast food restaurants all around us, but we rarely went.
GAH about those statistics! Jeez.
Those are great recommendations. Along with zoning restrictions of fast food places, there should be a positive side to it as well: opening up local cafes etc with FRESH, REAL food.
It’s not that I disagree. I mean it sure as hell will help with obesity. But how high would the taxes be? I weigh nearly 110 pounds, am 24, and absolutely love soda!
I’m not entirely opposed to the idea, but I’d hope it would be offset by the elimination of sales tax on other foods. (I know some states don’t charge tax on groceries.)
Another thing that I wonder is who would be the police of what’s junk. Would it be the same people who tried to convince us that ketchup was a vegetable?
Cammy – LOL about the ketchup comment!
Sagan – Yes, making fresh, real food more available would definitely help!
You have to consider the socioeconomic factors in play with regards to eating more junk food. Often people in the lower income bracket will buy fast food because they are working two jobs and can’t afford the time to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and groceries every week. Or they can’t afford the groceries themselves, and a cheap meal at McDonald’s is way cheaper. Putting a blanket tax on fast foods does not help this problem, only makes it worse.
Andrea – Interesting point. I just hope something works to stem childhood obesity soon.
If they crave and want those foods all you are doing is making them pay more. AND, for those of us who CAN control ourselves, you are punishing us. What crap.
It’s the stupid parents fault. If a kid is overweight, maybe the school should bring the parents in to discuss it, as it’s the PARENTS fault these kids are fat. Not punish the rest of us.
This is not the reason for the tax!!! Come on america! Wake up when do taxs stop?????? Look a tabacco products. There threw the roof. Look at your pay checks and how much your taxed in every damn aspect along the way down to the last pennie out of your hand. I don’t do any of these things. I don’t do tabacco or eat junk food. I am a health nut. I DO BELEIEVE WE HAVE A CHOICE and it should be ours to make. Don’t even get me started on a seatbelt! Want to save kids from gaining weight. Keep there ass off of this thing (computer). You too go play with your kids!!!!!
The hardest part is that my family of six is trying to eat healthier and it is hard because organic foods cost almost twice that of junk or pesticide infested foods. Purhaps it is not necessary to heavily tax unhealthly foods but making healthier foods less expensive. Everything already seems to have price increases and I think that it is time to decrease costs of healthy foods. Also notice the obesity trend in low income families as it is cheaper to pay for hotdogs and chips than it is for chicken and corn on the cob. Both are simple but healthy is where the problem lies.
As a rower I am always lloking for way to keep my diet healthy and changing it up a little. But it is increasingling harder to find cheap healthy options.
Taxing junk foods won’t be worth while. What would be more worth while would be to make healthy foods cheaper to buy. In Australia a packet of lollies will be $2.50 compared to a packet of salad which can cost you up to $4 and the fruit options are not cheaper either. In Australia from looking at the public areas I found that in the lower economical areas that there was a much higher increase of overweight children.
I also believe that some of the responsibility lies on the parents to take action and buy healtier foods and go outside to play with the children.Going back to my other point, places of lower economic status are not afford to buy healthy foods and are often working two jobs and cannot afford to spend as much time playing with their children.
Government also plays a role in this aswell. They have set up competetions from Primary students like “Jump Rope For Heart” which is a foundation that assists people with cancer. For each 10 skips of the rope they do people will pay each child money and that will go towards the foundation. But this is the only one that I havde personally experianced and the only one I have seen. Maybe more could be set up?
Going back to food prices, I do realise it is harder to lower the prices as fuel costs rise, and “Great” Gillards carbon tax set.
But to conclude more needs to be done about the food prices, parent responsibilty and Government action. I am not 100% sure where other countries such as the UK and USA are with this issue but I believe that what I covered could definately help.
P.S Sorry that this is such a big read, but thank you for reading my opinion on this issue!
How about lowering the prices on healthier foods. I like Crystal light drinks but I dont like it enough to shell out 2 to 3 extra dollars for it.
Again, big brother at work.
Look at that graph, obesity rates in the 70′s are much lower. Was there a tax on junk food then? NO!
In fact there were no restrictions on where to build fast food places, what to give your child to eat for school lunch etc.
It is a lot easier to let your kid watch cartoons all day or play an electronic device THAN TO TAKE THEM TO THE PARK.
The responsibility for the kids rest solely on the parent.
My kids get 1-1.5 hour a day of electronics(tv,gaming devices, etc.) then they can play outside, read a book, do homework. Whenever time permits we go biking, or just to a park.
They get junk/fast food, soda occasionally NOT on daily bases.
If you tell a parent your kid is not really your responsibility, make excuses for them they will not act like an adult. If the government will get involved in this, all we can expect is taxes and stupid regulations and the problem will not go away. The only reason big brother wants to get involved is to have something else to tax. There is a heavy tax on candy now in some areas of the US and the only people that really suffer from this are the poor who consume more candy than any other segment of society. These regulations were aimed at helping the poor fight obesity and backfired as usual. Same thing goes for cigarettes.
Remember? Road to hell is paved with good intensions.
Government please stay out of this!
Parents, it is on you to raise your kid in a proper and responsible manner!
Stop wining! It is hard work yes, but the reward is great!