Editor’s note: This commentary is by Jane Kolodinsky, who is professor and chair of the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics and director of the Center for Rural Studies at the University of Vermont.
Results of a new study on sugary drinks shows addressing consumption of these beverages early may prevent heart disease in the long term. Vermont lawmakers are considering legislation that would have healthy beverages be the default beverages for restaurant kids’ meals in order to change norms that have led to high rates of obesity and overweight. Having an evidence base to make policy decisions strengthens the case such a policy.
Researchers from Tufts University found that drinking sugary beverages hurts our hearts, not just our waistlines. The study found drinking sugar-sweetened beverages daily was linked to lower levels of HDL “good” cholesterol, and higher triglyceride levels, both of which can increase cardiovascular disease risk.
S.141, legislation passed by the Vermont Senate and currently before the House Human Services Committee, would have healthy drinks of water, 100% fruit juice or milk be the default option with restaurant kids’ meals instead of the sugary beverages that are often the current default.
When default options are offered, people often make the easy choice, which is the default. Children’s meals with healthier defaults make the healthier choice the easier choice. For example, changes at Walt Disney World theme park restaurants resulted in 21% fewer calories compared to meals with unhealthy defaults. Guests accepted the default healthy side dishes 48% of the time and healthier beverages 66% of the time, even though options, such as French fries and a regular soft drink, were available upon consumer request.
The healthy beverage kids’ meals legislation is supported by the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Academy of Pediatrics and a host of other public health organizations because sugary drinks contribute almost half of the added sugars consumed by children. In fact, kids are drinking, on average, 30 gallons, or a bathtub full of sugary drinks each year. Each extra serving of a sugar-sweetened beverage consumed a day increases a child’s chance of becoming obese by 60%.
Helping children develop healthy eating and drinking patterns early makes sense to me. It’s a lot easier to prevent diseases than treat and pay for them later.
Currently 27% of Vermont kids are overweight or obese. When you consider the total number of Vermonters who are overweight, a majority are in that category: 62%. The new Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System released by the Vermont Department of Health in January reveals that 29% of Vermont adults are obese and another 33% are overweight. There are some regions of the state where rates of obesity are even higher – Grand Isle at 49%, and Franklin and Rutland counties at 36%.
These numbers are cause for concern and there are more than $2 billion reasons to act. According to the Vermont Department of Health, Vermont was spending $1.5 billion treating chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer and asthma in 2010. As the percent of obese Vermonters increased, so did the cost of treating these diseases. We hit $2 billion in 2015 and these costs were expected to increase to $2.72 billion by 2020.
This is the reason why the Department of Health launched its 3-4-50 campaign to make the healthy choice the easy choice. Physical inactivity and poor nutrition are two of its targets. The third is tobacco use. The goal is to make it harder to be unhealthy by making it easier to be healthy.
The healthy beverage kids’ meals legislation does just this. It will flip the current convention on its head and offer healthy first vs. unhealthy. This legislation would begin to bend the curve on obesity while targeting kids’ drinking patterns early before sugary drinks become the norm for their diet.
The average age of a child who orders a kids’ meal is 2 to 5 years old. According to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine, 57% of these same toddlers will be obese by the time they are 35. And if a child is obese when they are young, chances are overwhelming that they will stay that way.
The economist in me can’t help but smile as well with news that healthier may actually sell better. A study published in Obesity found that when the Silver Diner restaurant chain introduced a healthier kids’ menu, orders of healthy meals, sides, and beverages increased with no declines in restaurant revenue, suggesting that restaurants can improve nutrition while remaining competitive.
It’s an idea whose time has come. California, Hawaii and Delaware have all enacted similar laws, as have Baltimore, New York City and Philadelphia.
I’m hoping Vermont will be next.
