A Strategy for Combatting Childhood Obesity and Physical Inactivity in British Columbia

After months of research, public hearings, and extensive consultations with youth, the Select Standing Committee on Health (AKA the Health Committee), issued its final report November 29, 2006, with recommendations to government on how to combat childhood obesity and physical inactivity in BC. You can download the entire report at http://www.leg.bc.ca/cmt/health

Summary of the Report

Childhood obesity is a problem our province can no longer afford to ignore. Nearly 30 per cent of teenaged boys and girls are overweight or obese. We know we can't tell kids that eating is bad, and we can't command children to embrace sports or go for a long walk every day. We appreciate that it took society decades to reach this crisis point, and solutions are hardly going to be implemented overnight.

For the past 50 years we've become less active, with communities designed around driving. Busy lifestyles means more of what we eat is processed and packaged. Kids spend more time in cars, in front of screens, and have access to unhealthy food served in larger portions. These things must change to solve the problem.

The Health Committee has made 36 recommendations to government to give them a variety of actions to reverse the trend of childhood obesity. You can download all the recommendations here. Some highlights include:

• Removing the PST exemption for junk food. Currently, no PST is charged for "candies and confections" and "soft drinks".
• Create a Nutrition and Exercise Council to negotiate with the food and drink industry to achieve voluntary reductions in fat, sugar and salt content marketed in B.C. The Council would also develop warning labels for products of high fat, sugar, and salt, such as a red-amber-green system.
• Encourage schools to develop "safe-walking routes" to get kids walking to school.
• Begin effectively measuring rates of obesity among children to track our progress in making kids healthier.
  Promote B.C. fresh fruits and vegetables, farmers' markets and community kitchens.
• Programs to encourage fitness and healthy eating should be mindful of varied cultural backgrounds in the population, and a special effort is needed to address childhood obesity in aboriginal communities.
• The government should speed up the removal of junk food from schools. Apply the same guidelines used for schools to all kiosks, restaurants, snack shops and other food outlets operating within properties owned or operated by the provincial government.
  Expand subsidized hot, nutritious school lunch programs in schools with the greatest need.
• Improve, replace or expand school facilities for physical activity such as gyms, weight rooms, sports fields and physical activity studios.
• All schools should develop safe routes to school, actively promote safe walking routes to parents while actively discouraging driving to and from school.
• Create an extensive social marketing campaign to reinforce positive messages on physical activity and healthy nutrition.

With this report, we hope to lead the province on a path to reverse the alarming trend of poor eating and inactivity among our children and youth.

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