The+Government+Departments

__**The Government Departments**__

What are the government actions towards obesity? **(Mtoc asashi)**
[] $117 billion is spent every year on obesity related health care. Lawmakers have made the Food and Drug Administration to fully label nutrition facts on all food items sold in markets to give awareness of what is being consumed. Government is sponsoring public service announcements to encourage kids to become more active. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides grants for state-focused nutrition and physical activity programs, and has since started in twenty-seven states. State laws currently under legislation are targeted to ban sales of soda and candy in public schools, have fast-food chains display fat and sugar content on menus, and to attempt to tax foods high in fat. Benefits of this include less spending on healthcare and improved overall health of American citizens.

"States considering Laws to Prevent Obesity in America." U.S. Government Info - Resources. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <[]>. []

Childhood obesity is agreed to be caused by children being inactive and not getting enough physical activity with little nutrition in their diets. Government documents the average child watches six hours of television or computer usage. The documents also state that eighty percent of children who are overweight by age ten will be overweight by twenty-five. The government endorses public activism to combat child obesity with programs such as Be a Player and We Can! to help motivate children that getting physical activity is fun and healthy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds money to state governments to encourage nutrition and physical activity programs and has been established in twenty-seven states. The Food and Drug Administration is required by law to have all food products especially for children to have food labels and list food information in restaurants.

"What the U.S. Government Is Doing about Childhood Obesity." Calorie Counter (CalorieLab). Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <[]>. []

Federal government established The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in 1999 and its subdivision the Division of Nutrition and Physical activity in twenty-five states to primarily help prevent related diseases. The program creates steps and processes to help give awareness to primarily children and young adults resources needed in each of the states. Target goals includes increasing physical activity, consumption of fruits and vegetables, minimize television and reduce high calorie foods and fast foods.

"Obesity and Overweight for Professionals: State Programs | DNPAO | CDC." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <[]>.

2.What types of government programs against obesity do we have right now? (**Fernando)**
**//__ State Based Programs __//** Created in 1999, CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) currently funds 25 states to address the problems of obesity and other chronic diseases through statewide efforts coordinated with multiple partners. The program's primary focus is to create policy and environmental changes that will improve the health of places where Americans live, work, learn, and play, working to build lasting and comprehensive efforts to address obesity and other chronic diseases through a variety of nutrition and physical activity strategies.


 * //__ Souped-Up School Nutrition Standards: __//**
 * The increase in national childhood obesity rate, and the decision to use school meal programs to help reduce it, is based on several facts: **
 * 1) Almost 32 million kids eat lunch at school and nearly 11 million eat breakfast there every weekday.
 * 2) The nutritional standards for school-provided meals haven’t been updated in 15 years.

What do the rules do?

 * Establish mandatory calorie ranges for school lunches: 550-650 for grades K-5, 600-700 for 6-8, and 750-850 for 9-12.
 * Prohibit almost all trans fats.
 * Require that schools offer a serving of fruit for both lunch and breakfast, and two servings of vegetables for lunch.
 * Require that both a grain and a protein be included in school breakfasts, not just one or the other.

**//__ Food Policy Councils __//** Food Policy Councils (FPCs), and related food advisory councils or coalitions, support and advise citizens and officials in developing policies and programs to improve regional, state, or local food systems. Many FPCs aim to identify and propose solutions to improve local or state food systems; encourage local economic development; and increase consumer access to and the availability of affordable, healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables. FPCs typically include stakeholders from public, private, and nonprofit sectors and represent a wide array of interests, including nutrition, health, agriculture, education, policy.

Works Cited

“DNPAO State Programs Highlights .” //Centers for Disease Control and Prevention//. Nutrition Physical Activity Obesity, May 2010. Web. May 2010. .

“Overweight and Obesity.” //Centers for Disease Control and Prevention//. usa.gov, 3 Mar. 2011. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. .

3.What is the group's perspective on the obesity issue? (Jeff)
The food industry has to work together with the government, academia and the medical community to give a message to the obese, teach more about nutrition and make more healthy choices. ConAgra helps these groups by making better nutrition information on packaging and labels, providing buyers a bigger selection of healthy products. giving buyers the best nutrition information will help buyers make better choices in their everyday life and help stop our struggle with obesity. The use of food labeling for dietary advocacy is an endeavor the FDA intends to advance very intensively, imaginatively, and as efficiently as possible, but also with great care. Without solid scientific conclusions bearing on the issues of food labeling and the obesity epidemic, the proposals would not be in the interest of public health or in the tradition of a science-based agency such as the FDA. Obese Working Group recommends making commercials in order to promote healthier lives through better nutrition, developing messages to help people make better choices, encouraging restaurants to use and put up nutrition info; and pursuing improvements to food labels. The problem of obesity has many causes: result of multiple factors acting together over time, including genetic and environmental factors, and many solutions: current trends will be reversed only as a result of coordinated, complementary efforts from a variety of sectors of society. The obesity epidemic will not be solved quickly, any long-lasting reversal of this phenomenon will itself be a long-term process.
 * Government perspective**
 * FDA perspective**
 * OWG perspective**

Works Cited “Government Perspective: Food Labeling.” //The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition//. American Society for Clinical Nutrition, July 2005. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. . “Overview of the FDA Initiative on Obesity.” //FDA//. N.p., 22 Apr. 2004. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. . “Solutions to Obesity: Perspectives from the Food Industry.” //The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition//. American Society for Clinical Nutrition, July 2005. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. .


 * __Analysis__**

$117 billion is spent every year on obesity related health care. Lawmakers have made the Food and Drug Administration to fully label nutrition facts on all food items sold in markets to give awareness of what is being consumed. State laws are now targeted to ban candy from public schools. Speaking of schools, the law requires the schools to provide fruits and vegetables for breakfast, lunch and snacks and provide breakfast with proteins and grains. The government works with the food industry and the Obese Working Group to send out a message to everybody about nutrition and make more healthy choices. OWG recommends making commercials to promote healthier lifestyles through better nutrition, making messages to help people make better choices and encourage fast food places to put up their nutrition facts.