Cornstarch has replaced hopscotch in many a child's daily life, with countless sedentary youths pigging out on fast food instead of burning off a square meal on the playground.
This demographic's engorgement threatens more than their physical and mental health; it risks the well-being of Corporate America.
Childhood obesity will tip the monetary scales when it leads to increased health care utilization and higher costs for employers. Further, poor child health will decrease employee productivity as working parents often must leave early or be absent to care for their child.
The severity of the problem has dramatically increased, as studies have shown a tripling of childhood obesity in the United States over the past 30 years. Nearly one-third of children in the country are now overweight or obese, the highest percentage of overweight youth in the nation's history.
"There is a great deal at stake for U.S. employers," says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, whose members include 280 large U.S. employers."An obese teenager has a 70% chance of [becoming] an obese adult.And with health care for obesity-related illnesses costing employers at least $45 billion annually, the price tag of this childhood epidemic could become unaffordable if we don't change course."
NBGH has developed a toolkit to help U.S. employers address the growing problem of overweight and obese children with the support of the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
"Childhood Obesity: It's Everyone's Business," recommends that employers build on the infrastructure and resources that many large employers already have in place.
The toolkit is divided into seven major components, including an overview of childhood obesity and the major ways it impacts businesses.
Four components illustrate how initiatives employers already have in place may be expanded or leveraged to promote healthy child weight. These core components include:
- Benefit design.
- Employee education.
- Employer-sponsored programs and onsite facilities.
- Community and philanthropy.
Employers put wellness at kid height
Already, some employers have taken action to combat childhood diabetes. For example, Texas Instruments gives kids access to its fitness facilities and provides camps that emphasize wellness during vacation breaks and the summer months. Some employers also provide children medical checkups through onsite company clinics.
Other companies have day initiatives throughout the year, like nutrition and physical fitness education during a "Bring your Child to Work" day, or they partner with local community groups.
IBM, a company who has encouraged well-being in their employee population for decades, introduced the Children's Health Rebate in 2008. They had employees sign up during open enrollment on behalf of their families and promised a $150 cash rebate if the family completed the healthy living requirements in 3 months.
First, the participating children visited a Web site where they answered questions about living patterns at home: healthy eating, physical activity, time spent watching television or playing video games, and the modeling of their parents. Then they elected at least three goals, like limiting junk food, and logged their progress each week.
The company also had previously introduced rebates for adults in the areas of physical activity, healthy eating and preventive care, in the hope that "if the parents have skills around healthy living, those skills will transfer to the home," says Joyce M. Young, M.D., MPH, creator of IBM's U.S. wellness strategy.
In the end, "we saw an increase in kids eating a healthy breakfast, preparing meals together, engaging in physical activity five times a week and a decrease in video games and TV time," Young reports.
Further, when asked whether the program had helped with instilling healthy behaviors at home, over half of their employees said yes, it had helped them maintain or achieve a better weight.
"They really appreciate the company for giving them this opportunity," says Young.
"As overweight and obesity increases among children, employers are clearly going to be affected in many ways," LuAnn Heinen, a vice president and director of the Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity.
"Schools, child care facilities, communities and families have begun to respond, but more focused efforts are urgently needed," she says. "Employers and health care providers also have roles to play as part of a comprehensive solution.Clearly, childhood obesity is everyone's business."
