Subscribe to the RSS feed.Latest National Security Threat: Obesity
Although we’ve been reporting on this issue for a long time, today retired U.S. Army Gen. John M. Shalikashvili and retired U.S. Army Gen. Hugh Shelton (both former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) have now declared obesity in the U.S. “the latest national security threat.”
In a Washington Post Op-Ed, the retired generals report the following:
- Being overweight or obese is now the leading medical reason recruits are rejected for military service.
- Approximately 27 percent of young Americans are too overweight to serve in the military.
- From 1998 to 2008, the number of states reporting 40 percent or more youth overweight or obesity rate rose from one to 39.
- Since 1995, the proportion of those failing their physical exams because of weight issues increased 70 percent.
The authors have now “joined more than 130 other retired generals, admirals and senior military leaders in calling on Congress to pass new child nutrition legislation.”
Among their recommendations for such new legislation:
- Get junk food and high-calorie beverages out of schools.
- Add $1 billion per year for 10 years to child nutrition programs.
- Develop research-based strategies, implemented through our schools, to help parents and children adopt healthier lifelong eating and exercise habits.
