Policies to Prevent Childhood Obesity in America - Essay Example

American people are amongst the most obese in the whole world (“Obesity in America”). Whenever the causes of childhood obesity have been evaluated, analysts have largely drawn upon the children’s own carelessness towards their nutrition and physical fitness. Most of the researchers have emphasized a need to convince children to eat less and exercise more.

As a result of this, various obesity prevention programs have surfaced in recent years including Coordinated Approach To Child Health (CATCH) and Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC). Despite all the debate, research, and funds that have gone into suggesting ways to prevent childhood obesity in America, little, if any, objective results have been obtained. This is fundamental because of the fact that the root cause of childhood obesity has yet not been identified. The real cause of the spread of childhood obesity in America is the mismatch between the American government’s agriculture policy and the health policy.

The subsidies given by the American government for the promotion of agriculture in America far exceed what is needed to meet the demand of American society. Increased production has given birth to the trend of increased consumption. In order to change American children’s eating habits for the better, it is imperative that the underlying factors that have made them develop conventional eating habits are realized. An insight into the agricultural work in America explains why American people maintain unhealthy eating habits.

Since the year 1995, subsidies for the production of meat and dairy have been three times as much as they have been for the production of grains. There is the omnipresence of subsidized corn in America. “[T]the explosive growth in corn production by American farmers…this year is estimated to reach a nationwide total of at least 10.9 billion bushels, second only to last year's 11.8 billion bushels” (Barrionuevo). A vast majority of the food items in American cuisine originate in corn, be it liquid, semi-solid, or solid.