Report Card: States Failing to Check Obesity

by Joy Keller

Making News:

If you believe that health starts at home, you may be wondering what your state government is doing to help control obesity. According to the University of Baltimore Obesity Initiative’s national report card on state-based efforts, nearly half of all states aren’t making the grade, and 10 states are barely keeping pace.

“Report Card: State Efforts to Control Obesity” is the product of faculty researchers in the Robert G. Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore (UB), and the Schaefer Center for Public Policy at the Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts. These researchers, along with faculty from the UB School of Law, joined forces to examine the real-world costs of obesity.

For the purpose of comparison, researchers created a report card for each state. Grades were based on efforts to pass obesity control measures. To gauge involvement, the report looked for legislation on the following types of issues:

nutrition standards

vending machine usage

body mass index measured in school

recess and physical education

obesity programs and education

obesity research

obesity treatment in health insurance

obesity commissions

Grades represent a composite score for each of the eight types of legislation. In order to receive an A, states had to successfully pass a law related to obesity management. Twenty-three states received a failing grade for their efforts, and no state received an A. Arkansas was the only state to receive a B. Ten states received a C, 16 received a D, and 23 received an F for taking no action at all. To see how your state ranked, visit www.ubalt.edu/experts/obesity/index.html and select “UB Obesity Report Card.”