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Dairy is part of “Let’s Move”
Earlier this week, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the “Let’s Move” campaign with a goal of solving the childhood obesity problem within a generation. Ms Obama says “Let’s Move will engage every sector impacting the health of children to achieve the national goal, and will provide schools, families and communities simple tools to help kids be more active, eat better, and get healthy.”
Representatives of the dairy industry were in attendance at the announcement, Laura Wilford; a Registered Dietician with the Wisconsin Dairy Council says dairy will play an important part in this effort. “The First Lady has said children need to drink milk instead of sugar-sweetened beverages.” Wilford points out that most of the milk served in schools for instance is low-fat or fat-free, “We are seeing that some people are concerned about the sugar in chocolate milk but our response to that is there is unflavored milk there if you prefer your child drinks that.” Wilford says chocolate milk is a healthy alternative to soda.
According to USDA, over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. One third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives; many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. A recent study put the health care costs of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion per year. This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.
Wilford says, “If we can get all students to eat sensibly and exercise more, we will all be healthier.”
AUDIO: Laura Wilford comments on the effort
Learn more about “Let’s Move“
Tags: Consumer Issues, Wisconsin
Wouldn’t that make it the “Let’s MOOOOOOOOOve” campaign?