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Parents and schools
should combat obesity

THE ISSUE A new study shows that obesity is expected to shorten life expectancies for the first time in two centuries.

OBESITY is expected to sharply reduce Americans' life expectancy in coming years, and Hawaii residents are no exception. It may be too late to change the over-eating and couch-potato habits of most adults, but measures are needed to guide preschool and young schoolchildren into habits of good nutrition and exercise. The Department of Education has neglected to provide adequate guidance.

A report published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine calculated that within 50 years obesity likely will shorten the current average life span of about 77 years by at least two to five years. If that happens, it will be the first time in two centuries that the current generation of children will have shorter life expectancies than their parents.

The report cites other studies showing that two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, and one-third are obese. Among children, 30 percent are overweight and at least 15 percent are obese, more than double childhood obesity 25 years ago.

In Hawaii, half the adults are overweight or obese. The state Department of Health estimated three years ago that nearly 30 percent of the children entering kindergarten in public schools were overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, similar to the national figure.

A study conducted last year found that 32 percent of Hawaii's children were overweight and 10 percent obese by the time they reached their first birthdays. At age 5, 14.6 percent were overweight and an alarming 19.2 percent were obese.

The chance of those children rebounding from the unhealthy start in life was not enhanced by their enrollment in school. Although the state Board of Education last year restricted the amount of soft drinks in vending machines at public schools, schoolchildren are not provided the level of exercise needed for a healthy life.

Instead, the DOE has focused attention on children passing tests to meet federal mandates under the No Child Left Behind law. Even though studies have shown that intense physical programs result in positive academic achievement, physical education takes a back seat in Hawaii. Public schools employed only 50 full-time physical education instructors at the beginning of the current school year -- an instructor for every 1,416 students from kindergarten through sixth grade.

The consequences are grave: Diseases and complications associated with obesity include Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure and cancer, which the new study says are likely to strike people at younger and younger ages.

Outreach efforts are under way to reach children in families that cannot afford preschool and provide stimulation to prepare them for kindergarten. The focus is now on mental development, but physical development should not be ignored. Eating and exercise habits along with learning habits are determined in the early years of childhood.