According to a USDA study, 14% of American households experienced some type of food insecurity in 2014 with 41.8 million Americans living in food-insecure households. (Feeding Am.) Obesity is one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide. Many have attributed the condition to a combination of excessive eating and lack of exercise, but new studies are suggesting a different cause, food. Not food per say, but what is in it.
Food insecurity and obesity are rising trends among the nation’s youth, two issues that on surface level appear to be unrelated, are in fact two sides of the same coin. Our mental image of a child that suffers from hunger is that of a starving refugee in some far off country, when it could just as easily be the …show more content…
In the piece The Politics of Obesity: The Seven Steps to Government Action Rogan Kersh and James Morone break down the regulatory response generally seen in regulation of harmful private behavior, “Governmental policies toward alcohol, tobacco, and drugs include at least four regulatory strategies: controlling the conditions of sale through direct restrictions or limits (especially aimed at youth); raising prices through “sin taxes”; government litigation against producers of unhealthy substances with damage awards earmarked for health care or healthy alternatives; and regulating marketing and advertising.” …show more content…
For example, the Let’s Move! campaign was focused more on the move to action on addressing what the nation’s children were consuming. After many major food corporations signed on the help with the solution the program slowed down and is now focused on what children and their families can do themselves. Corporate interest heavily weighed down the program. Corporations stand against restrictions on advertising to children, arguing that they aren’t selling junk food. Corporate interest is the main opposition to progress on these issues. Corporations fund many of the major programs when it comes to food in education.
As seen in the food insecurity problem, many of these foods are behind the obesity epidemic. Their presence in schools are also restricting to efforts made to create healthier options for children. As school funding is increasingly cut, schools looking for cheaper alternatives are turning to corporate sponsorship, but cutting funding to education we are forcing schools to search for other alternatives to fund their programs. Getting the House to allocate funds for education and away from other programs isn’t an easy task, especially considering the current political
Food insecurity and obesity are rising trends among the nation’s youth, two issues that on surface level appear to be unrelated, are in fact two sides of the same coin. Our mental image of a child that suffers from hunger is that of a starving refugee in some far off country, when it could just as easily be the …show more content…
In the piece The Politics of Obesity: The Seven Steps to Government Action Rogan Kersh and James Morone break down the regulatory response generally seen in regulation of harmful private behavior, “Governmental policies toward alcohol, tobacco, and drugs include at least four regulatory strategies: controlling the conditions of sale through direct restrictions or limits (especially aimed at youth); raising prices through “sin taxes”; government litigation against producers of unhealthy substances with damage awards earmarked for health care or healthy alternatives; and regulating marketing and advertising.” …show more content…
For example, the Let’s Move! campaign was focused more on the move to action on addressing what the nation’s children were consuming. After many major food corporations signed on the help with the solution the program slowed down and is now focused on what children and their families can do themselves. Corporate interest heavily weighed down the program. Corporations stand against restrictions on advertising to children, arguing that they aren’t selling junk food. Corporate interest is the main opposition to progress on these issues. Corporations fund many of the major programs when it comes to food in education.
As seen in the food insecurity problem, many of these foods are behind the obesity epidemic. Their presence in schools are also restricting to efforts made to create healthier options for children. As school funding is increasingly cut, schools looking for cheaper alternatives are turning to corporate sponsorship, but cutting funding to education we are forcing schools to search for other alternatives to fund their programs. Getting the House to allocate funds for education and away from other programs isn’t an easy task, especially considering the current political