Who To Blame When Your Kid Is Fat

Summer is almost here and parents all around will be bringing their kids to the pediatrician for their yearly physicals before next school year. And your little 11 year old isn't so little anymore. He's 5'0" and weighs 165 pounds.

Source: Newsweek cover July 3, 2000

Last year, he was 140 pounds and the doctor told you back then you need to control his dieting. He also said he needs to get "more" exercise. This was the doctor's way of being nice. He knows your kid doesn't exercise, but he can't say it like that. He tells you to make sure he eats "more" vegetables and less sweets, but, he really knows your kid doesn't eat any vegetables at all, unless you count the lettuce on his two Wendy's burgers.

A few years back, when I pretended to go to college, I did a paper on childhood obesity. I wish my wife would have saved it like she saves all my two kids work, but, it's gone, so I'll have to just wing it from memory. I decided to research childhood obesity because that was right around the time when flunky lawyers started to pursue food and beverage manufacturers claiming they were contributing to an epidemic by creating and selling products which leads to fat kids, which, in turn, leads to fat adults, which in turn, leads to huge medical expenses later in life. This became the "new black" amongst tort lawyers who far exhausted the tobacco settlements and sought another revenue stream. (This is the full disclosure part; I make no bones about it, I think these types of lawyers are scum. At the time of my research, I also happened to work for one of the companies in the cross-hairs, Coca-Cola).

My paper was loaded with all kinds of quotes, statistics, data, parenthetical references, citations and footnotes. I had the usual list of MLA items I needed to include to get a passing grade in English 101. But, there is no need to bore you with something you already know; Fat+Carbohydrates+Calories-Exercise = Fatness. That was easy. I wonder what grade I would have gotten if that was my entire paper?

Beverage companies have been under attack for some while and have evolved as a result. The legal battle was picked up by state boards of education when they became influenced by the tort lobbyists. Soon, they began threatening to end contracts with beverage companies who supply their districts with products in campus vending machines, lunch lines and concession stands. Of course, that would have been huge. They went from a purely defensive posture at first to more of an "o.k., we can do a little better" posture later. And it's the later part that really shows how companies react to societal pressures. Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other beverage companies listened to the negative media, paid attention and worked to beat the tort lawyers rear ends. But not in a court of law, rather in the court of public opinion. They created healthier alternatives with less sugar or no sugar, shrunk package and serving sizes, made easy to read labels identifying calorie info, and, at the same time, pretty much took over the single serve bottled water market to boot. All while still offering their regular brands and continuing to innovate new ones.

You can read how many calories have been cut in school drink choices, something like 80%. Companies had to fight for their right to exist in the important school channel. And they had a lot of help along the way from unlikely sources; their competitors. While it is still entertaining to watch the old school trench warfare in the convenience stores and supermarkets, in this battle, they all wore the same uniform. Among other help were groups like the American Beverage Association www.ameribev.org , which consists of hundreds of companies in the entire beverage industry who employ over a quarter of a million people. A lot of people have a lot at stake.

Click here to watch the ABA's video

The fight isn't over though. There are special taxes being proposed which would do nothing to stop childhood obesity, but it makes a lot of liberal thinkers feel like they are making a difference. Right now, there is some creepy lawyer drawing up the next plan and the beverage companies are hard at work spending tens of millions of dollars a year trying to do the right thing.

None of the lawsuits or proposed legislation will do an ounce of good as long as little fat Johnny sits on the couch playing X-Box, eating Doritos, slamming Cokes and getting zero exercise. And there's a good chance mom and dad are porkers, too. One statistic that stood out during my research is if a kid's parents are obese, then there is a 64% chance the kid will become obese too. If the parents are not obese, the chance is reduced to 16%. And, it's not because of genetics. Kids eat what their parents eat. How many people have a secret snack cupboard for them but a fruit and vegetable cupboard for their kids? How many 300 pound parents make their kids go exercise? The answer is none and none. Speaking of exercise, another focus could also be the fact that P.E. programs have been eliminated in many schools in the past 20 years. Do you think that may have anything to do with keeping our kids physically active?

We have to watch and control what our kids eat. And we have to lead by example. Of course snacks are fine in moderation, but moderation often becomes the norm and parents act surprised when the doctor tells them their kid is fat and is going to have a lifetime of health problems unless they change. But, just because a kid is fat, I shouldn't have my choices affected.

Now, sure, the lawyers will say all they ever wanted was to force the beverage companies to make healthier products, but, we know better. I think it was Ronald Reagan who said it best about politicians, many of whom are lawyers: "The second oldest profession bears a striking resemblance to the first". Well said Ronnie, well said.

This blog is the opinion of the author. None of the companies mentioned here have any affiliation with this blog, nor do they endorse its contents...but they should. Gregg W Shore is a 23 year beverage veteran who writes his blog @DrinkPro, A View of the Beverage Industry, from the Inside Out. Connect on LinkedIn and follow on Twitter @DrinkPro