Speech of Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton - Introduction of the Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise (LIfe) Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, today, as we approach July 25, and the 6th annual National Dance Day, I rise to reintroduce the Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise (LIFE) Act, authorizing a national initiative to attack a major health problem in the United States that cannot be remedied through the health care system alone. Increasing rates of overweight and obesity are now found in Americans of every age, race, and major demographic group, and threaten the health of Americans like no other single disease or condition. In fact, the key to eliminating many of the most serious health conditions is not only to reduce overweight and obesity but also to encourage exercise of all kinds. On National Dance Day across the nation, Americans will be dancing, one of the most enjoyable and popular forms of exercise.

This bill would provide $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for a coordinated national effort to reverse increasingly sedentary lifestyles and diets that are high in fat and sugar.

We see rising consciousness of the need to get moving, from the First Lady's ``Let's Move'' campaign for children and the television shows ``So You Think You Can Dance,'' ``The Biggest Loser,'' and ``Extreme Weight Loss''. Yet, the United States continues to have startling rates of obesity among adults and children. In 2010, estimates from the CDC National Center for Health Statistics showed that since 1980, the percentage of children who are overweight has more than doubled, and the percentage of adolescents who are overweight has tripled. Today, the 13 million overweight children have an 80 percent chance of being overweight adults, with the health conditions that follow, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer. The CDC reports that Type 2 diabetes, considered an adult disease, is now widespread in children. The rising cost of the health care system, including insurance premiums, reflects the epidemic. The consequences for kids will follow them throughout their lives if we do not act quickly and decisively. If we are serious about controlling health care costs, we must start where the most serious health conditions begin: overweight and obesity.

This bill seeks to provide the first national strategy to combat the epidemic by directing the CDC to do three things: train health professionals to recognize the signs of obesity early and to educate people concerning healthy lifestyles, such as proper nutrition and regular exercise; conduct public education campaigns about how to recognize and address overweight and obesity; and develop intervention strategies to be used in everyday life, such as in the workplace and in community settings. This legislation is the minimum necessary to address our most important health crisis. Today, chronic diseases, many of which are caused or exacerbated by overweight and obesity, account for 70 percent of all deaths in the U.S., and 60 percent of U.S. medical care costs. According to the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity, the cost of obesity in the U.S. was more than $117 billion in 2000. The CDC has highlighted a study that estimates the annual cost to be $147 billion. It is estimated that between 300,000 and 400,000 deaths per year are related to obesity.

A focused national health initiative would provide guidance to the states to engage in similar programs, as mayors of some cities have done. National focus could lead to full participation in high school physical education classes, participation in which has dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 33 percent in 2005. Changes in nutrition are equally critical because 60 percent of young people consume too much fat, a factor in the doubling of the percentage of overweight youth. Data show an increase in unhealthy eating habits for adults and no change in physical activity.

According to a recent study conducted by the American College of Sports Medicine, the District of Columbia is the fittest city in the United States, and yet, obesity continues to be a severe problem even here. Most of the obesity epidemic is exercise-food-related. One-fifth of the District of Columbia is considered to be obese, and if the number is this high in the nation's capital, one shudders to think how high it is for other areas of the nation. We need to act now.

I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this important legislation to mobilize the country now, before entirely preventable health conditions, which often begin in childhood, overwhelm the nation's health care system.

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