Young Kids, Large Problem

Los Angeles may be known worldwide for its anorexic actors and fitness junkies. But this infamously contradictory place also has the state’s greatest share of fat and out-of-shape children.

More than one-quarter of California’s public schoolchildren are overweight and nearly 40% are not physically fit, according to a new study by the nonpartisan California Center for Public Health Advocacy. Eight of the nine state Assembly districts with the worst findings are in Los Angeles County.

Kids, like adults, are getting fatter because they’re gulping down super-sized junk food and spending more time sitting in front of TV and computer screens. Parents need to get their kids to eat less and move more -- and to set an example by doing so themselves.

But this rapid a rise in the prevalence of overweight children is also due to larger changes that require more than individual willpower to fix. Kids today don’t play outside after school the way many of their parents did, for example, because their parks and neighborhoods aren’t safe. (One more reason for Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn and Police Chief William J. Bratton to target the criminal street gangs that hold these neighborhoods under siege.)

Meanwhile, the state cut physical education requirements in schools two decades ago -- about the time childhood weight problems started rising -- after Proposition 13 slashed school funding. Some schools skimped even more on P.E., boosting class sizes to as high as 80 students. They sought new money in vending machine sales -- of sugar-loaded soft drinks and junk foods. Many high school cafeterias came to resemble the local mall’s fast-food court.

Nascent movements are underway to reverse these trends. Beginning in January 2004, the Los Angeles Unified School District will ban soda sales in schools. The Los Angeles City Council has initiated an urban park trust with an ambitious goal of creating pocket parks within walking distance of all city residents. State legislators are pushing bills to require more nutritional school lunches and to increase or simply enforce P.E. requirements.

Being overweight and out of shape contribute to diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses. The costs include steep medical bills, missed days of work and lives dictated by pills and insulin shots -- if not cut short. Imagine how that toll will rise now that high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes are showing up at age 10 or 15, not just at 40 or 50. To prevent this public health calamity, society will need to develop a dieter’s long-term resolve.