Statistics show Mississippi has the highest obesity rates in the country. However, creating a law to prevent restaurants from serving the obese is clearly not the solution and has generated a great deal of controversy.

A bill that would force some Mississippians to back away from the buffet, or any restaurant, has begun its trip through the 2008 Legislature.

House Bill 282 would prohibit restaurants from serving food to anyone who is obese, based on criteria from the state Department of Health.

Restaurateurs and an advocacy group say the legislation is a waste of time, and even one of the lawmakers pushing it doesn’t expect it to travel very far.

State Rep. Ted Mayhall, R-Southaven, said he’s simply hoping to “call attention to the problem.”

“No one’s doing anything about it,” Mayhall said, referring to obesity. “They just keep on going to the buffets and eating.”

Obesity makes people more susceptible to diabetes, which puts a further strain on the state’s financially-challenged Medicaid program, he said.

A 2007 report put that state’s obesity rate at 30.6 percent – the worst in the nation.

Mayhall said the bill has been referred to a House subcommittee. If it advances, it would be discussed in the House Public Health and Human Services Committee.

Dr. Ed Thompson, state health officer, has previously said Mississippi’s obesity rate cost Medicaid alone $221 million each year.

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“I’ve seen a lot of crazy laws, but this one takes the cake. Literally,” said J. Justin Wilson, a senior research analyst for the Center for Consumer Freedom. “Whether it is menu labeling laws, taxes on fattening foods, or Mississippi’s new “you’re too fat to eat here” proposal, the food police have gone too far.”

Mississippi also ranks “dead last” in the country for physical activity, Wilson said.

“Maybe the state’s Legislature should do something to help people burn more calories instead of pretending that eating out is a cardinal sin,” he said.

McDonald’s restaurant owner Mike Rutzer of Greenville agreed.

“It just staggers the imagination to think what our government will come up with next,” he said. “It’s discriminatory. Now we’re picking and choosing who to serve?”

Jackson restaurateur LeRoy Walker said lawmakers should focus on “health care, education, overall economic reform for our state. People on the Coast are still impacted from Hurricane Katrina.”

“I think the individual who may have some challenges with their weight needs to govern themselves accordingly with the choices they put on their plates,” he added.

DeShawn Walker, who was eating an early dinner with his mother Saturday evening at Big Mama’s Country Cooking Buffet in south Jackson, said the bill equals discrimination.

Mississippi’s obese have an advocate with PETA:

A provocative bill introduced by state representative W.T. Mayhall Jr. that would bar Mississippi restaurants from serving obese people has captured PETA’s attention, but the group is suggesting an amendment. The animal rights group thinks it can do HB282 one better: instead of refusing to serve overweight people altogether–something that would raise the ire of restaurants and patrons alike if the bill were actually passed and implemented–PETA is proposing that restaurants be required to serve only healthy vegan meals to consumers who are struggling with their weight.

Citing research studies that show that vegans and vegetarians are much thinner on average than their meat-eating counterparts, PETA points out that most vegan foods are naturally high in fiber (there is none in meat and dairy products), and low in fat and contain zero cholesterol (which is only found in animal products).

“There’s no reason to starve fat people–they just need to pile their plates with healthy, vegan food,” says PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich. “Vegan meals like hearty vegetable casseroles, bean burritos, and pasta with mushrooms, tomatoes, and green peppers not only are satisfying but will slim you right down too.”

You can read the letter PETA sent on their Web site. They do make an excellent point. Prohibiting people from eating will not solve problems, but finding healthy restaurant food bountifully available will help all of us.

Just announced are some new rules to go into effect in restaurants in NYC. Read more after the jump.

The Board of Health today voted to require restaurant chains operating in New York City to prominently display calorie information on their menus and menu boards. The new regulation, which takes effect on March 31, 2008, applies to any New York City chain restaurant that has 15 or more outlets nationwide – about 10% of all New York City restaurants.

Providing customers with prominently displayed calorie information at the time of purchase will help guide informed and healthier food choices, an important step in addressing the obesity epidemic that now affects millions of New York City residents.

“Obesity and diabetes are the only major health problems that are getting worse in New York City,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City Health Commissioner. “Today, the Board of Health passed a regulation that will help New Yorkers make healthier choices about what to eat; living longer, healthier lives as a result.”

Calories Count

Chain restaurants serve food that has been clearly associated with excess calories and obesity, and studies show that people who eat fast food regularly consume more calories than those who do not.

Many chain restaurants already post calorie information on the Internet, in brochures, or on food wrappers or tray liners. Customers rarely see this information when they’re ordering food, and without it, people greatly underestimate how many calories are in a meal. Chain restaurants are able to feasibly and accurately post calorie information because they have highly standardized recipes and portions.

Given the lack of public knowledge about calories and portion sizes, this is favorable. It is unfortunate that it has taken governmental intrusion to bring it about. Restaurants should be proactive and forthcoming in giving patrons the truth about what they are eating.  But, as CSPI pointss out, the restaurant industry  must bear some responsibility for bringing on this intrusion.

Today’s vote comes as something of an embarrassment for the New York State Restaurant Association, whose bungled legal strategy set the stage for a broader regulation that now includes chains that presently make no nutrition information available to their customers, such as such as TGI Friday’s and Outback Steakhouse. Several chains, including Chipotle, Quiznos, Wendy’s, and White Castle had actually pulled nutrition information from websites or posters in an attempt to avoid complying with the city’s previous regulation. But now they will have to comply since they each have more than 15 units nationally.

Subway and Auntie Anne’s have been using menus with calories since last summer when New York City’s first menu labeling regulations were to take effect. Philadelphia, San Francisco, Maryland’s Montgomery County, New York’s Nassau and Westchester Counties, and Oregon’s Multnomah County, which includes Portland, are working on menu labeling proposals this year.

CBS 60 Minutes reports on the growing concern about calories in restaurant foods; calories that some restaurants refuse to reveal. Read more on the story below, after the jump.

People are getting many more calories from the food they eat out than they think, especially when they think they are eating in some place healthy, says a Cornell University food and marketing professor. This kind of public misperception is great enough that health officials want to force food chains to put calories on menu boards.

60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl reports on the battle brewing between health advocates and the restaurant industry over calorie disclosure this Sunday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

“When people are eating in a restaurant that they think is healthy, people grossly underestimate how much they eat by about 50 percent,” says Brian Wansink, the Cornell professor. In one test at a food court, Wansink asks a customer to guess the caloric content of his 12-inch sub with mayonnaise, chips and juice from Subway, a chain that bills its food as a healthier fast-food choice. The young man expresses shock at learning the meal he thought was about 300 calories was 1,390. “That’s more than half [the calories] … you’re supposed to eat in a day?” he asks.

It is just such underestimating and overeating that helps fuel the nation’s epidemic of obesity believes New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden. He initiated a regulation in New York City requiring fast food chains to post the calories on their menu boards. Seattle passed a similar law, as did the California State legislature (though vetoed by the governor), plus 18 other states and municipalities are considering menu labeling. It is a fact that many chains already disclose nutritional information on Web sites or in-store in brochures and tray liners, but Frieden says no one sees it. “What restaurants are doing now is a sham. They’re putting information on Web sites and they know perfectly well that very few people see it there.”

Visit the CBS Web site for the rest of the article, video and photos.

For more information about NYC Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden’s efforts and to read the legal papers, visit the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Web site.

It has indeed been a battle and The New York Times recaps the latest developments:

The Bloomberg administration, in its continuing fight against obesity, reintroduced a measure yesterday to force chain restaurants to display calorie information on their menus or menu boards, after a federal judge struck down a similar measure last month.

The new regulation would apply to all restaurants operating in the city that have 15 or more outlets here or across the country.

Many chains, including McDonald’s, Burger King and Starbucks, already provide calorie information on their Web sites or on posters or tray liners.

But health officials say customers rarely see this information before deciding what to order. The regulation would require the calorie counts to be posted as prominently as the price of each menu item. For many fast food outlets, that means the information would be added to the big signs behind the cash registers that list food items and prices.

“The big picture is that New Yorkers don’t have access to calorie information,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city’s health commissioner. “They overwhelmingly want it. Not everyone will use it, but many people will, and when they use it, it changes what they order, and that should reduce obesity and, with it, diabetes.”

The new regulation would apply to about 10 percent of the city’s 23,000 restaurants, about the same as would have been affected by the previous regulation. But those that would fall under the new regulation serve about a third of all food eaten outside the home here each year, according to health officials.

They say most fast food customers simply have no idea how many calories they are taking in.

A typical McDonald’s lunch of a Big Mac, large fries and a medium Coke has about 1,320 calories, about 66 percent of the recommended daily calorie intake for an adult. A Burger King triple Whopper with cheese has 1,230 calories. One Boston Kreme doughnut at Dunkin’ Donuts has 270 calories.

The article continues.

It was not so long ago that starvation and famine made headlines. Presently, the world also has another challenge to face:

Some 1,800 researchers will gather in New Orleans this weekend to discuss efforts to treat and contain the worldwide obesity epidemic.

More than 300 studies will be presented during the annual conference, organized by the Obesity Society, a US scientific association created 25 years ago to study the phenomenon.

Between 64 percent to 66 percent of adults in the United States are overweight, of whom 60 million are obese with the epidemic on the rise.

More than a billion adults worldwide are overweight, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and there are at least 300 million obese people on the planet.

In Europe, Britain leads with a 23 percent obesity rate, followed by Germany at 12 percent and Italy at eight percent, according to a study published at the end of 2006 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

In France, 5.9 million people are obese, of which 2.3 million are nine years old.

In China, the obesity rate can reach 20 percent in some cities, according to the WHO.

Over the four-day conference, scientists will review genetic research and how modifying genes can affect weight, the retention of body fat and appetite.

A major element of the conference will be devoted to sociological and behavioral studies as lifestyle, diet and a lack of exercise are the primary causes of the epidemic. Pediatric obesity is also a top priority, with 20 percent of American children deemed obese — a figure that has tripled in 40 years.

U.S. schools have made improvements in the last six years, according to data from a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

The survey, which is conducted every six years, shows that more schools than six years ago offer salads and vegetables and that fewer permit bake sales. More states and school districts insist that elementary schools schedule recess and that physical education teachers have at least undergraduate training. More states have enacted policies to prohibit smoking at school and to require courses on pregnancy prevention.

Perhaps most striking, 30 percent of school districts have banned junk food from school vending machines, up from 4 percent in 2000. Schools offering fried potatoes in their cafeterias declined, to 19 percent from 40 percent.

The results of the survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention elicited cheers on Friday from public health and education officials, as well as warnings against complacency.

In some instances, the officials pointed out, progress toward healthier living and learning was notable only because so many schools had started from such low points.

The percentage of districts that require elementary schools to teach physical education increased, to 93 percent last year from 83 percent in 2000.

But just 4 percent of elementary schools, 8 percent of middle schools and 2 percent of high schools provided physical education each school day, as is recommended by the disease control agency. One-fifth of schools did not require physical education at all.

Although the researchers found that the proportion of schools selling bottled water grew, to 46 percent from 30 percent, they also said three-fourths of high schools sold soft drinks and that 61 percent sold potato chips and other high-fat snacks.

“What we’re seeing is that the nation’s schools really are making progress in addressing the obesity crisis and teenage tobacco use,” said Howell Wechsler, the director of the division of adolescent and school health at the disease agency and an author of the study. “But large numbers of schools are still not implementing recommended policies. We need all the nation’s schools to have environments that make it easy for children to make healthy choices.”

You can read the entire report, The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS), on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Web site.

There is much talk about what role the public school system must take in confronting childhood obesity. The worst thing to do is to keep talking and take no action. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial points out the politics involved in Georgia schools that slow the removal of sugary drinks in vending machines (not atypical at all in America):

The availability of junk foods in so many schools ought to be of special concern in Georgia, where 43 percent of third-graders are overweight or obese. A recent study ranked Georgia 14th in the nation for adult obesity and 12th among youths aged 10 through 17. Schools know that their students would be better off quenching their thirst at the water fountain than at the vending machine, but the fountain doesn’t pay for band uniforms or football fields.

Because of the tremendous profits from vending machine sales, schools set aside the nutritional values they maintain in their cafeterias and preach in their health classes. Districts boost their profits by entering into exclusive lucrative contracts with Coke or Pepsi, thus teaching their students that everything has a price, even their health.

The New York Times reports that school districts across the country are making efforts to eliminate some of the unhealthy foods served at school cafeterias and replace them with healthier choices:

For instance, New Jersey adopted its own nutrition guidelines, which take effect at the beginning of this school year, though more than half the school districts have already complied.

That means that when students return to Millburn High School in northern New Jersey tomorrow, pizza will still be on the menu, but it will be low-fat. Water has replaced soda in the vending machines, and sports drinks are sold in smaller bottles.

At Spain Park High School in Hoover, Ala., a local favorite called Milo’s Famous Sweet Tea has been banned from the cafeteria. So have regular potato chips; now baked chips are sold.

In central California, the Woodlake Union district pulled out its deep fryers over the summer and replaced them with a convection oven.