Norton Introduces Bill to Establish National Effort to Promote Healthy Lifestyles through Nutrition and Exercise
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the Promoting Healthier Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise (LIFE) Act of 2020, which would encourage exercise and healthy eating habits nationwide. Norton's bill would provide $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to combat obesity and sedentary lifestyles in three ways: conducting national education campaigns about how to recognize and address overweight and obesity; training health professionals to recognize the signs of obesity early and to educate people concerning healthy lifestyles; and developing intervention strategies to be used in everyday life, such as in the workplace and in community settings. This initial funding would be only for pilot efforts to develop best practices and give the country a coherent national strategy for combating overweight and obesity.
Reducing overweight and obesity rates has been a priority for Norton in Congress. Although her LIFE Act is a national bill, she notes that the District of Columbia has higher rates than many jurisdictions of conditions related to obesity, such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Adult obesity rates in the United States has more than doubled since 1980, from 15 percent to 35 percent.
In her introductory statement, Norton writes: "Changes in nutrition are equally critical because more than half of all young people consume too much fat, a factor in the increase of overweight youth. Data also show an increase in unhealthy eating habits for adults and no change in physical activity… I urge support of this important bill to mobilize the country now before entirely preventable health conditions, which often begin in childhood, overwhelm the nation's health care system."
Norton's full introductory statement is below.
Statement of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton on the Introduction of the Promoting Healthier Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise Act of 2020
January 27, 2020
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce the Promoting Healthier Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise Act (LIFE Act), which authorizes 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 among Americans of every age, race and major demographic group, and threaten the health of Americans like no 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.
The LIFE Act 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. Specifically, my bill would require the CDC to establish the first national strategy to combat the overweight and obesity epidemic. The CDC, either directly or through grants to states or local organizations, would train health professionals to recognize the signs of overweight and obesity early in order to educate Americans about proper nutrition and regular exercise; conduct public education campaigns about how to recognize and address overweight and obesity; and develop intervention strategies for use in everyday life, such as in the workplace and community settings.
In 2017, estimates from the CDC National Center for Health Statistics showed that since 1971-1974, the percentage of children and adolescents who are obese has increased from 5 percent to 18.5 percent. The CDC also reports that Type 2 Diabetes, once considered an adult disease, is now widespread among children. The rising cost of the health care system, including insurance premiums, reflects this epidemic. 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 75 percent of U.S. medical care costs. A focused national health initiative would provide guidance to the states to engage in similar programs, as mayors of some cities have done.
A national focus could lead to changes, such as greater participation in high school physical education classes, which dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 25 percent in 1995 and has remained constant through 2015. Changes in nutrition are equally critical because more than half of all young people consume too much fat, a factor in the increase of overweight youth. Data also show an increase in unhealthy eating habits for adults and no change in physical activity.
To cite an example of the need for action, the District of Columbia is one of the fittest cities in the United States, according to a 2019 study by the American College of Sports Medicine, yet even here, obesity continues to be a severe problem. Approximately one-fifth of District residents are considered obese. Most of the obesity epidemic is exercise- and -food-related.
I urge support of this important bill to mobilize the country now before entirely preventable health conditions, which often begin in childhood, overwhelm the nation's health care system.