Increasing rates of obesity among young Americans could undermine the future of the US military, with potential recruits increasingly too fat to serve. "Obesity rates threaten the overall health of America and the future strength of our military," generals John Shalikashvili and Hugh Shelton, both former chairs of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a commentary.
Obesity disqualified more potential recruits for military service than any other medical factor, so the two generals urged Congress to adopt legislation that would ensure better nutrition in schools, offering children more vegetables, fruits and whole grains while cutting back on foods with high sugar, sodium and fat content.
"We consider this problem so serious from a national security perspective that we have joined more than 130 other retired generals, admirals and senior military in a non-profit group called "Mission: Readiness."
The US military faces a problem with troops already serving who are overweight, with some soldiers losing out on promotions because of their failure to meet fitness standards. The two retired generals endorsed a plan by President Barack Obama's administration to increase funding by one billion dollars a year over ten years for child nutrition programs. Investing in nutrition made sense as the country was already spending 75 billion dollars a year on medical costs associated with obesity, they said. .
"We must act, as we did after World War II, to ensure that our children can one day defend our country, if need be.
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This is interesting. I had heard this on the news recently. Finally, the government might start listening... but hopefully parents of children will start listening too because they can have a huge influence on their child's health outside of school lunches.
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