How powerful corporations are contributing to childhood obesity and asthma

The average serving of chocolate milk contains 24 grams of added sugar, meeting a full day’s limit in a single carton. Yet, owing in part to years of lobbying from dairy industry groups, chocolate milk continues to be on the menu in public schools across the country.

While rising rates of childhood obesity are correlated with many factors, one clear driver is added sugars and fats in processed foods that are cheap and directly marketed to children and families.Lane Turner/Globe Staff

With 1 in 5 children in the United States now qualifying as obese, recently released recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics highlight the enormous downstream consequences for these children, including increased risks for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and mental health concerns. While the 73-page document discusses the impacts of neighborhood, family and home, and genetics on the risk of childhood obesity, there is little mention of the corporations that have contributed to the surging rates of obesity in our country. Similar to other public health threats, this tracks with a long history of corporations pairing deceptive marketing with powerful lobbying influence to shift the blame and responsibility on consumers, and ensuring that politicians don’t regulate them.

While rising rates of childhood obesity are correlated with many factors, one clear driver is added sugars and fats in processed foods that are cheap and directly marketed to children and families. For example, the American Heart Association recommends that children consume no more than 25 grams of added sugar per day; the average serving of chocolate milk contains 24 grams of added sugar, meeting a full day’s limit in a single carton. Yet, owing in part to years of lobbying from dairy industry groups, chocolate milk continues to be on the menu in public schools across the country.

The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health found that Black and Hispanic children are disproportionately targeted with advertising for products like candy, sugary drinks, snacks, and fast food. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data cite much higher rates of obesity among Black and Hispanic children.

Similarly, the health risks of gas stoves associated with indoor air quality have been well-documented for decades. A new study concluded that roughly 12 percent of all childhood asthma cases are likely attributable to gas stoves. While the causal links between respiratory illness and gas pollution are well understood, industry associations and lobbyists fight regulatory progress at every turn.

The Energy and Policy Institute recently revealed that the Propane Education and Research Council, which is one of the largest spenders against climate policy in the United States, spent tens of millions of dollars on broadcast TV ads and HGTV influencer campaigns to persuade the public and policy makers that cooking with gas is essential and to stop all policy attempts that would support a transition to clean cooking appliances in our homes.

These health consequences are frightening for those dealing with them, and responsibility is often framed as solely on the individual to make better choices. But Americans should all be asking the question of what role corporations are playing on the health of our bodies. We cannot continue to let corporations decide what’s best. Local communities and policy makers need to buttress public health through comprehensive approaches to tackling these complex problems, including holding corporations accountable.

The US Department of Agriculture recently proposed updated nutrition guidelines for public schools that would reduce the amount of added sugars in flavored milks and other high-sugar products, as well as reduce sodium limits for school breakfasts and lunches. Bills passed in Arkansas, Illinois, and Maryland support programs that double the value of federal food assistance benefits when qualifying consumers buy fresh or minimally processed fruits and vegetables at farmers markets.

Dozens of local governments throughout the country have moved to phase out gas appliances in new building construction, including in large cities like Seattle and San Francisco. A suite of clean energy incentives passed into law by Congress last year will soon provide direct rebates to consumers when they purchase more efficient electric appliances, including cooktops, ranges, and wall ovens.

These are all measures that are beginning to take back public health decisions from powerful and moneyed corporations, but they’re only the beginning.

If we are truly going to work on tackling complicated issues such as childhood obesity and asthma, public institutions must perform clear-eyed data analysis on the impact of products being marketed to our communities and make hard choices to limit or block deceptive marketing that presents these products as the only option. No set of expert-laid health guidelines can truly make the intended impact if we do not first put health over profit.

Heather Coleman is environment program director at the Wallace Global Fund and a member of the Climate and Economic Roundtable at the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett is vice chair of Primary Care Innovation and Transformation in the Department of Family Medicine at Boston Medical Center, a clinical associate professor at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, an associate at Harvard’s Center for Primary Care, and a health innovator fellow at the Aspen Institute.