Ways your local government can help prevent childhood obesity

Sep 1, 2009 6:20 PM

With a 16.3 obesity rate among U.S. children and adolescents between the ages of two and 19, a new report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council comes just as kids are heading back to school, highlighting strategies local government officials can use to help reduce childhood obesity.

The IOM report highlights several examples of ways that officials have promoted healthy eating and physical activity that range from a comprehensive obesity prevention initiative—involving walking trails, a new fitness center, and breastfeeding promotion—to a city law requiring calorie information on restaurant menus in cities and towns across the country. The report also offers ways to lower obesity rates including:

Zoning restrictions on fast-food restaurants near schools
Taxing high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and drinks
Increasing access to healthy foods in underserved neighborhoods through supermarkets, grocery stores, and convenience stores
Eliminating outdoor ads for high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and drinks near schools
Requiring calorie and other nutritional information on restaurant menus
Rerouting buses or developing other transportation strategies that ensure people can get to grocery stores
Collaborating with schools to develop and implement a "Safe Routes to School program" to increase the number of children safely walking and bicycling to schools.
Building and maintaining parks and playgrounds that are safe and in close proximity to residential areas.
Regulating play space, physical equipment, and duration of play in preschool, after-school, and child-care programs.

Community-based actions like these can help increase access to healthy foods and active play and exercise. And parents, as you prepare to send your child back to school this year, check out our tips on helping your child maintain a healthy lifestyle they can carry from home into the classroom, and into adulthood.

—Ginger Skinner

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