First Lady’s Childhood Obesity Task Force Calls For Transportation Reform

(Chart: LetsMove.gov)

The
White House's inter-agency task force on childhood obesity, developed
under the stewardship of First Lady Michelle Obama, today released a 124-page report
recommending dozens of policy shifts in health care, community
development, and transportation that it estimates can bring down
obesity rates among kids by 5 percent over the next 20 years.

During the February launch
of the task force, Mrs. Obama noted the public health benefits of
promoting biking and walking among U.S. kids, but today's report goes
into far more detail about the link between non-motorized
transportation, local land use, and children's rate of physical
exercise. Among the task force's recommendations are an addition of "complete streets" design rules to the next long-term federal transportation bill and expanding the Safe Routes to School (SRtS) program to include high schools.

"Children’s
ability to be physically active in their community depends on whether
the community is safe and walkable, with good sidewalks and reasonable
distances between destinations," the report states in a section
entitled 'The Built Environment' that got an early plug from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

A chart featured in the White House report, viewable above, mirrors the assessment of a recent SRtS release
that found ample opportunities for families to transition their
children from school commutes via auto to trips by foot or bicycle.

The
task force also encourages local governments to conduct "Health Impact
Assessments," or HIAs, before building new developments. The HIA
concept, similar to environmental reviews
of federally funded transport projects that are currently mandated by
law, would evaluate the effect of construction and land-use decisions
on the physical activity of community residents.

The first
lady's group also took a notably holistic approach to the effect of
neighborhood quality on children's health. In a lengthy section on the
findings of a recent socioeconomic study published in the journal Health Affairs, today's report states:

• Children
  living in unsafe neighborhoods or those characterized by poor housing
  and the presence of garbage and litter on streets had an approximately
  30-60% higher chance of being obese or overweight than children living
  in better conditions;
• Children with low neighborhood
  amenities or those lacking neighborhood access to sidewalks or walking
  paths, parks or playgrounds, or recreation or community centers had
  20-45% higher odds of becoming obese or overweight compared to children
  who had access to these amenities;
• The impact of the
  built environment was particularly strong for younger children (ages
  10-11) and for girls. Girls ages 10-11 living in neighborhoods with the
  fewest amenities had 121-276% higher adjusted odds of being obese or
  overweight than those living in neighborhoods with the most amenities

As a standard to measure the success of its proposed policy shifts, the
task force suggested aiming for a 50 percent increase in the share of
children walking or biking to school over the next five years.

"We
don't need new discoveries or new inventions to reverse this
trend" of obesity that has manifested in an estimated one out of every
three American children, Mrs. Obama told reporters today. "Again, we
have the tools at our disposal to reverse it. All we
need is the motivation, the opportunity and the willpower to do what
needs to be done."