Editorial: Help keiki gain healthy habits

This would have been a disturbing statistic at any time: About 1 in 6 children, ages 10-17, are obese in Hawaii — an increase over the past two years.

After enduring a pandemic for the better part of those two years, though, the state has to see it as a particular call to action. COVID-19 is an illness that strikes its most devastating blows against those who have an underlying health challenge. Obesity, as well as diseases such as diabetes that arise from it, rank among those worrisome conditions.

This is true for adults, but it’s in childhood where lifelong healthy habits are most easily instilled, and it’s where there’s the best opportunity for a course correction.

The trendline has worsened since 2018, when the obesity rate here stood at 11.1%. It shot up to 15.5% in 2019-2020, pushing Hawaii’s obesity ranking from 44th to 25th in the nation, according to data from the health-focused nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

There is ample research documenting how the pandemic has accelerated parallel health crises worsened by the economic and social disruptions. In November 2020, the Journal of Pediatric Nursing published a paper noting the impact of stay-at-home orders.

“Schools closed and children lost the safety net of access to nutritious food, a safe place to be, and mandatory physical activity as well as their social networks and familiar routines,” according to the report.

Poverty can result in families making do with cheaper fast-food options, all the more so when stressed and distracted children and parents make less than ideal food choices. Processed foods and high-fat meals can cause weight gain along with poor nutrition overall, especially when paired with the loss of physical activity.

In an attempt to grapple with multiple problems stemming from the shutdown of financial and social activity, state lawmakers moved last session to help both the agricultural industry and the health of school children.

Gov. David Ige signed House Bill 767, which sought to boost the commitment of public schools to serve fresh island produce. The measure set a goal of at least 30% of meals comprising locally sourced foods by 2030. This was aimed at restoring some of the revenue farmers lost in the tourism downturn.

But joining in the chorus of support for the measure was the Hawaii State Youth Commission. The panel underscored the importance of the state’s Farm to School program in strengthening bonds between youth and the agricultural communities.

Shwe Win, one of the panel’s youth commissioners, rightly pointed out in written testimony that “the program’s garden and farm-based education promotes healthy lifestyles in Hawaii youth through expanding access to fresh, local agricultural products.”

For many of Hawaii’s children, free and reduced school lunches already were a dietary mainstay. And thanks to federal waiver, all public school students this academic year are eligible for free breakfasts and lunches, federal funds reimbursing the state for its 2021-22 costs.

Staying on course with this nutrition campaign is especially critical now, given the obesity trendline.

In addition, the resumption of campus routines for children, and youth sports in particular, arrived not a moment too soon. Most children had far too much screen time during remote learning, so shepherding them back to healthy physical activity deserves priority attention from educators and parents alike.

It’s a relief to know that all schoolchildren age 5 and up will soon have the added protection of a vaccine. But recovering their basic health, through good nutrition and exercise, is also critical, now and for the rest of their lives.