Foundation to Spend $500 Million to Fight Childhood Obesity

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced Wednesday that it would spend $500 million over the next five years to fight the epidemic of childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity is threatening the health of one-third of the nation's children. Nearly 25 million children at age 17 and younger are considered to be obese or overweight. This costs $14 billion a year in medical expenses, according to the foundation.

The foundation is now offering to fund programs to improve access to affordable healthy foods and to increase physical activities in schools and communities in order to stop the child obesity trend

"We want the best ideas and the best people in the country to reverse this epidemic," said Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, the president and CEO of the Plainsboro-based foundation.

According to Lavizzo-Mourney, children are eating more junk food while they are also not walking to school and have less need for physical activity in today's world of convenience. Basically, people are eating more energy than they burn, she said.

"We are eating more of our meals in restaurants. It's harder to control healthy choices when you're eating out," Lavizzo-Mourey said. "A lot of these things happened over many years, and so slowly it was hard to see it was happening."

The foundation thinks that the $500 million is the largest amount ever to be put against childhood obesity.

Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher called the foundation's effort "tremendous."

The "investment highlights just how critical this problem has become and is a call to all the nation that past efforts have been too small, too slow and too fragmented," Satcher said in a statement provided by the foundation.

The foundation's new initiative will build on successful programs in place. Without action, health costs will continue to grow as sick children become sicker adults, according to the foundation.

"The epidemic of obesity in children is causing kids to have adult diseases. And those adult diseases have serious consequences, and give the potential for having a sicker adulthood and shorter life," Lavizzo-Mourey said.