Parents Should Not Have to Choose Between Healthy Food and Paying the Rent

Reasonable minds can disagree whether genes or bad parenting is the primary cause of childhood obesity.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/parents-more-than-parenting-may-be-to-blame-for-obesity/2011/11/28/gIQALOfk4N_blog.html.

But the following article shows that regardless of the cause, obesity is not a partisan issue; neither is it one in which companies must choose between profits and ethics. Parents need to know that they can feed their children healthy food without breaking the bank.


Obesity fight good for profits
By: Bill Frist and Cory Booker
November 28, 2011 09:25 PM EST

We are facing a childhood obesity epidemic so severe that for the first time, America’s children will live sicker, shorter lives than their parents. In the past three decades, the childhood obesity rate has tripled. One in three children is now either obese or overweight.

These trends continue past puberty. In 20 years, half of the U.S. adults are projected to be obese.

But many companies are committed to fighting this epidemic. Our health summit Tuesday focuses on a powerful yet simple idea: If the public and private sectors can come together to effect meaningful, voluntary change, we can end childhood obesity within a generation.

Some companies have already stepped forward. Because of their actions, millions more Americans now have easy access to healthful, affordable foods.

We’ve ensured childcare centers provide the healthiest environment to our children. Major consumer packaged goods companies have reformulated products — decreasing calories, sodium and fat. Restaurants have increased their healthful options — especially for kids. All these new commitments came in 2011 alone.

But their leadership will succeed only if the entire marketplace follows. These companies must show their competitors that by making the healthy choice the easy choice, a company can also make its bottom line healthier.

The good news is this idea is taking root. We have evidence that packaged-food and beverage companies selling a higher percentage of better-for-you products gain better reputations — and a stronger bottom line.

Better-for-you foods and beverages now account for slightly less than 40 percent of sales in grocery, drug and mass merchandisers, but they contributed more than 70 percent of sales growth in the past five years, according to a Hudson Institute study. And companies that expanded their better-for-you products more than traditional ones delivered 2½ times the operating-profit growth.

In addition, returns to shareholders were 1½ times higher for companies selling above-average levels of better-for-you products.

The hard evidence is in, and it’s clear that the private sector can be financially successful in its efforts to help all Americans be healthier.

But the private sector can do more. We say this not with a stick in our hands but with a carrot.

We know consumer demand is there. The private sector merely needs to seize the advantage — as the companies represented at the summit have done.

But we must make meaningful commitments, not empty press releases. In this age of increasing corporate social responsibility, when too many companies attempt to improve reputations by writing checks to causes they believe customers might like, our only counsel to companies looking to change is this: Make it meaningful.

The childhood obesity epidemic is too too dangerous for gimmicks.

Recent actions show that you can succeed by instituting meaningful change. But American consumers are not stupid. They know the difference between real commitments and hollow attempts at PR.

To our private-sector colleagues, remember: There is evidence that consumers will reward you for your efforts — but that does not mean your efforts will be easy.

The opportunity continues at today’s summit. Yet it will involve more than shining a spotlight on important private-sector initiatives to fight childhood obesity. Our real challenge is to carry the momentum these companies create into tomorrow, next month and next year.

Today is just the beginning. It has to be.

Bill Frist is a physician and the former Republican Senate majority leader. Cory Booker is the mayor of Newark, N.J. They are honorary vice chairmen of Partnership for a Healthier America. The group is holding its Building a Healthier Future Summit on Tuesday.

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