Jeff Bingaman: “I will read parts of this letter so people can understand the case that is being made. The American Heart Association…”

“I will read parts of this letter so people can understand the case that is being made. The American Heart Association letter directed to me, signed by Sue Nelson, Vice President for Federal Advocacy, says: Overweight and obesity, especially among children, have merged as serious threats to our Nation's health. Today, about 16 percent of all children and teens in the United States are overweight. Obesity is the major risk factor for coronary heart disease which can lead to heart attack. Obesity can induce diabetes which makes the danger of heart attack especially high. Recent research suggests that obesity shortens the average lifespan by at least 4 to 9 months, and if childhood obesity continues to increase it could cut 2 to 5 years from the average lifespan. It could cause our current generation of children to be the first in American history to live shorter lives than their parents. Besides its toll on health, obesity contributes significantly to rising health care costs. The World Bank has estimated that the cost of obesity is 12 percent of this country's overall health care budget. The problem is we don't seem to be willing to connect the dots. We don't seem to be willing to say if we spent a little more on something like nutrition education, maybe we would not have to spend 12 percent of our health care budget to deal with the problem of obesity. That is the simple reality.…”