[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 92 (Friday, June 20, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8295-S8296]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           CHILDHOOD OBESITY

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, an issue outside of Medicare but one that 
has been in the news, one that deserves more attention, is an issue 
that is changing a little bit, like the demographics I just went to, in 
an unprecedented way. That is childhood obesity. This is flipping from 
Medicare, where we are talking about seniors, all the way to the other 
end of the spectrum as we look at an epidemic occurring in children 
that we have never seen before. It is a medical issue. It is an issue I 
first became aware of as a physician, but it has gotten worse. Many of 
us saw the release by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
from this past weekend which led me to want to restate the importance 
of addressing this issue.
  Historically childhood obesity was thought of in moral terms, there 
was an unfair stigma to obesity.
  But what we have become aware of in medical science only recently, 
and that is childhood obesity is a serious condition that has 
implications not just to the child as a child or as an adolescent but 
has grave lifelong complications. The kids, are not just at risk for 
developing bad habits but now we know they are at risk of adult 
diseases, of developing evolving adult diseases because of that 
childhood obesity, because of that inactivity.
  It was last weekend, Friday or Saturday, that the CDC released 
statistics

[[Page S8296]]

which were alarming even to me. I have been studying this and writing 
legislation on it. It has to do with a type of diabetes called type 2, 
adult onset diabetes. What this new research showed is that one in 
three Americans born right now--the date was from the year 2000, but 
one in three Americans who are born in the year 2000 will develop 
diabetes in their lifetime. That is higher than any estimate we have 
known to date in medical literature. In fact, the American Diabetes 
Association had an estimate which was generally accepted broadly, based 
on good data. This is three times that. One in three Americans born 
right now will develop diabetes.
  The good news is that doesn't have to be the case. Things can be done 
that can reverse that. I am very interested and will continue to focus 
on health disparities between gender, men, women, between ethnicity, 
between race. And if you look at this data in terms of African 
Americans and Hispanic children, nearly half will develop diabetes. 
Women are at higher risk than men, and the disease is striking at 
younger ages. It used to be a little bit older. Now it is younger and 
younger that this type of type 2 diabetes strikes.
  The number of diagnosed cases among the population as a whole has 
jumped 50 percent in the last 10 years hitting over 11 million in the 
year 2000. That figure will skyrocket to 165 percent by 2050, putting 
the number of Americans with type 2 diabetes at 29 million. The 
implications of this are severe. Diabetes leads to a whole host of 
chronic illnesses. It is the leading cause of kidney disease, heart 
disease, amputations, and blindness.
  The good news is these high rates of diabetes are not inevitable. 
Type 2 diabetes can be prevented. That is because the leading cause of 
type 2 diabetes is obesity and lack of exercise.
  Walking for 30 minutes a day, losing a few pounds can literally cut a 
persons's risk by more than half.
  You don't have to be a marathon runner, an iron man participant, but 
following that mantra of moderate exercise and moderate, even minimal 
weight loss can make a huge difference. You can reap huge health 
rewards.
  That is why Senator Bingaman, Senator Dodd, and I and many others on 
both sides of the aisle introduced a piece of legislation called the 
INPACT Act, the Improved Nutrition and Physical Activity Act, with 
obesity rates double what they were 30 years ago. And we are learning a 
lot about obesity disease scientifically almost every day. Americans 
need, more than ever, to be able to make and be encouraged to make 
healthy decisions about nutrition and physical activity. On the House 
side, I am pleased that Representatives Mary Bono and Kay Granger, 
along with other cosponsors, introduced companion legislation earlier 
this year. I will not go into the legislation now.

  I encourage my colleagues who are not cosponsors to look at it so we 
can pass that in the future. It is a multifaceted approach. It 
emphasizes youth education to jump-start healthy habits early on, to 
prevent a future struggle with weight. It funds demonstration projects 
to find innovative, creative ways of improving eating and developing 
good exercise habits. It includes rigorous evaluations so we can learn 
what works best. What it does not do is outlaw certain ``bad'' foods in 
any way.
  It doesn't attempt to micromanage or regulate what Americans eat or 
drink. It does have a modest price tag, consistent with what the 
appropriate role of the Federal Government should be. It doesn't 
attempt to replicate a billion dollar diet industry or the fitness 
industry that is out there. I know--we all know--there is no single 
solution to this growing epidemic of obesity. We know it is an 
epidemic. We know it is getting worse. We do know that leadership on 
our part can make a difference, can increase awareness of the serious 
medical consequences, in particular for children.
  As the adults in this situation, we can and indeed we must show our 
determination to keep them safe by keeping them fit.

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