Almost 40% of Texas kids are overweight or obese. Some schools are responding by trying to serve more nutritious meals and by placing more emphasis on exercise. But State Senator Leticia Van de Putte has a more drastic--and patently strange--remedy in mind: a law that would require schools to record each student's body fat index on his or her report card. Critics of the bill point out the obvious: that parents don't need the school to tell them if their child is overweight, and that a child's weight is far more attributable to eating patterns learned and practiced at home than to anything that happens in the classroom.

I think that this is great that you decided to address this issue. My concern is that weight and BMI become something people will obsess over. Students already compete over grades etc, will this foster competition over weight issues? Possibly, and what message does it send to judge students on their weight like this? I do not debate that health is a serious issue in our society, but to address it in this way seems ineffective, inappropriate and misguided. Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Once again, we see the sad attempts to quantify qualitative issues. God forbid the schools fully address the fact that ketchup is not a vegetable; that sloppy joe day, while fun, is destructive to one's health. Get fresh, organic foods into school lunches, and at least students will receive one decent meal a day. When they get home and have a great night out at FoodCorpMcChain, Inc., well then, at least they'll have had some fresh vegetables. Then again, I'm sure the Texas beef lobby makes sure that Texas students eat enough red meat to finally take out even Darth Cheney.

Apparently, Arkansas has already done this:

"In June 2004, as part of a state antiobesity program, the nonpartisan Arkansas Center for Health Improvement began mailing annual health reports to the parents of all 450,000 Arkansan public school students. Schools submit each child's weight and body mass index to the center, which then notifies parents of their child's weight category and provides healthy lifestyle tips." (From http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2004/112-13/forum.html?section=children#beat)

One of the curious details about this is that an article on childhood obesity in a June 2002 NIH publication (http://www.nih.gov/news/WordonHealth/jun2002/childhoodobesity.htm) cites BMI as a measure inapplicable to children....

"BMI as a measure inapplicable to children...."

and to many adults.

I wonder how many "bad touch" incidents will come from the measurement of BFI. Plus I don't like the undercurrents of promoting hip and healthy lifestyles as each new fad comes along, espeically the bunk that is Psuedo-Fresh Internally-Pesticized and Overpriced Organic food, and the new diet de jour. Hmmm... Carbs or LowFat? Gosh! Which to choose for the little FattyFat Kids. And what do we feed at the "skinny" girls table? The porterhouse or the T-Bone? And then do we shoeleather it like everything else the lunch ladies do or do we fix em up right and introduce them to some Black and Blue?

So many diets, so little time, so little money, and so many kids of all shapes and sizes.

Look at the statistics: (from actual web sites, cannot verify veracity)

Childhood Obesity Running Out of Control

ï 4% overweight 1982 | 16% overweight 1994
ï 25% of all white children overweight 2001
ï 33% African American and Hispanic children overweight 2001
ï Hospital costs associated with childhood obesity rising from $35 Million (1979) to $127 Million (1999)

Childhood Obesity Running Out of Control

ï New study suggests one in four overweight children is already showing early signs of type II diabetes (impaired glucose intolerance)
ï 60% already have one risk factor for heart disese

....

At least 50,000 individuals will die as a direct result of an eating disorder.

The most common behavior that will lead to an eating disorder is dieting. (AABA, 1998)

It is estimated that currently 11% of high school students have been diagnosed with an eating disorder. (ANAD)

Time Magazine reports that 80% of all children have been on a diet by the time that they have reached the fourth grade.

15% of young women have substantially disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. (National Eating Disorder Screening Program)

The diet and diet related industry is a 50 billion dollar a year enterprise. (M. Maine, 2000)

81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat. 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet. (Mellin et. al, 1992)

2 out of 5 women and 1 out of 5 men would trade 3 to 5 years of their life to achieve their goal body weight. (Rader Programs)

The average woman is 5"4í and weighs 140 pounds. The average model is 5"11í and weighs 117 pounds. Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women. (Smolak, 1996)

If todayís mannequins were actual human women, based on theoretical body fat percentages, they would probably cease to menstruate. (Rader Programs)

91% of women surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, 22% dieted "often" or "always." (Kurth et. al, 1995)

35% of "normal dieters" progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full syndrome eating disorders. (Shisslak & Crago, 1995)

The mortality rate for anorexia is higher than for any other psychological disorder. In fact, itís the number one cause of death among young women. Five to ten percent of anorexics die within ten years of onset, 18-20 percent die within twenty years of onset, and only 50 percent report ever being cured. (ANAD)

.... Now let's do some math...

25% of white children are overwieght and 33% of Black and Hispanic. 1 in 4 overweight children are showing SIGNS of Diabetes. That is 5.25% of white children and 8.25% of Blacks and Hispanics. Compared to

81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat. 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet.

Yeah, let's put the BMI of our children on their report card. Not enough of them are dying from eating disorders.

And while we're on it, don't forget that we are a country that has a legacy of being encouraged to be "opportunity feeders" that goes back to the depression and before (e.g., deprivation-inspired immigration) desi[ite now being a nation of plenty. Blaming Mickie-D's on everything is pretty damn unfair to a country that was encouraged, as I was, to clean our plates of WASP cuisine (over our self-preservatiion instincts) because "there are starving kids in India/Africa/Appalachia." Based on my travels abroad and the facts on the table, other countries that have hungry histories but full tables now have this problem too but it's either underreported or background anti-Americanism turns the discriminating eye and waving finger to the US.

For example, we aren't as bad, chubbywise, as some of the Polynesian and Micronesian cultures where full figures and jelly bellies abound. I seem to remember one of those countries being inches around the middle above anyone else in the world.

oh, and about those PE minutes in the school day (not to mention recess)? Still cut cause they are too expensive.

I wonder if anyone has looked into whether putting this kind of information, which I think is broadly within the category of medical information, would violate medical privacy laws. Or do they plan to use a coercive waiver?

this policy does seem too intrusive. but obesity is a problem. here's an anecdote: back in june of 1991 i arrived in LAX after spending a year in Okinawa courtesy of the USMC. what's the first thing i noticed? all the overweight people. there aren't many overwieght people on marine bases, and the japanese civilians weren't overweight (not as many).

the difference was enough for me to notice, and it's a detail that has stuck with me for many years.

i'm not for fad diets or schools reporting BMI(yet another aspect of life for schools to monitor when parents should be doing it). this problem needs to be addressed, but unfortunately, it's a matter of personal (parental) responsibility.

WHOAH, RP. I hadn't even considered medical privacy, but yeah. That's a big problem. But then agian, administrators can play fast and loose with FERPA when it suits their purposes and lawyers aren't looking.

I remember when BMI first came out, and was touted as not being a height/weight ratio. Um... okay... you take the height and weight and use a ratio to determine another number that is then put on a scale to determine your health. But it's not a ratio. Nope.

John has a lot of good points about eating disorders, and the point about cutting P.E. classes is also germane. I'd just like to add that most new subdivsions are built in such a manner that it is all but impossible to walk anywhere (like the store or even a nice park), and we wonder why obesity climbs? Sometimes it's not just difficult but dangerous to walk or bike or even just run around playing as a child. Compare your typical new semi-walled subdivision with the new Stapleton development in Denver, where it's laced with bike paths and sidewalks (and even front porches, so there will be people out watching) and community "courtyards", and where the designers took human tendencies into account rather than forcing laws. Do I want to live someplace like that? Oh, yeah. But I live in a different state, so the commute would be brutal...