Sugary candy, soda pop know no income level
Gov. Jim Pillen and some Nebraska legislative leaders seem poised to make it harder to use SNAP benefits to buy candy and pop. (Stock photo by)
Gov. Jim Pillen and Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services CEO, Dr. Steve Corsi, are on the record that soda pop and candy are sugar highs that over time can lead to serious health-related lows. Good call.
A letter of intent from the governor to the USDA asserts the state's want to join a number of other states who ban SNAP recipients from using their benefits for pop and candy. Nice: Now do everybody else.
That's because the Pillen/Corsi argument is that pop and candy are unhealthy, especially for children. No one is claiming otherwise, plus the scientists have the receipts to back it up. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that adult obesity continues to rise. Its latest numbers, reported in the fall of 2024, showed that 35% of adults in 23 states had obesity, including Nebraska at 36.6%. A decade earlier no state was above that threshold.
Among children the obesity rate has risen to nearly one in five kids dealing with the consequences of unhealthy weight. According to the CDC, the cost of childhood obesity checks in at $1.3 billion.
Diabetes among children has reached historic numbers, too. According to research published in the 'Journal of Diabetes,' Type 2 diabetes in children aged 10-19 has doubled in the past decade, and Type 1 Diabetes has grown from 20 to 22 children per 100,000.
Although diabetes and obesity are disproportionately higher in low-income communities, no one on the poverty-to-wealth continuum is immune from the persistence of both maladies. Restricting SNAP beneficiaries may address one particular income group, but if pop and sugar are bad for poor kids, they are bad for rich ones, too.
Several attempts at previous nutritional causes and movements have been met with fierce and forceful pushback, accompanied by fevered charges of nanny-state overreach.
In 2012, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed banning sugary drinks over 16 ounces in the Big Apple. Yes, hell did break loose. No, the ban never went into effect.
The nation's soft drink industry eventually prevailed in the New York Supreme Court, which ruled the city's Board of Health, which pushed Bloomberg's idea, failed to stay in its lane. To wit: New Yorkers, like the rest of us, can still supersize their sweet drinks.
In 2009, first lady Michelle Obama launched 'Let's Move,' a program to offset the march of childhood obesity in America. In addition to encouraging exercise, Obama also worked with Congress to lower the level of fats, calories, salt, sugar and sodium and increase the amount of fruits and veggies students found in the school cafeteria line. You would have thought she slipped state secrets to our adversaries. The pushback was intense and personal from talk radio to the blogosphere, including a Fox News contributor who argued that Obama needed to 'drop a few pounds' before trafficking in nutritional advice.
Sadly, such bilge still passes for argument today.
Eventually, Congress passed a law that allowed schools to opt out of the healthier standards because what's a good idea — helping kids eat healthier — without a way to get around it.
Sure, taxpayers foot the food bill for SNAP recipients, but we also pay the federal freight for scores of others who benefit from government largess. What would be the reaction if we required all those with tax breaks or direct subsidies from the feds not to not use said benefits for jelly beans, Dr. Pepper, et al?
While Nebraska's letter of intent may be in line with a national focus coming in part from federal health officials, taking cues from Washington may not always be in the state's best interest, a lesson perhaps learned in the recent 'blue dot' vote in the Nebraska Legislature.
Finally, if we're talking about getting healthy food to children, we should also be discussing the prevalence of food deserts in the state. Food deserts are generally defined as areas where access to 'affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance.'
Instead, residents in these areas often end up buying food designed for a longer shelf life and all too often filled with sugar and other preservatives.
Although often associated with urban areas, food deserts, according to the Center for Rural Affairs, can be found in 11 Nebraska counties: Blaine, Custer, Duel, Dundy, Grant, Hitchcock, Hooker, Jefferson, Keya Paha, Morrill and Sioux.
Yes, let's talk about nutritious food for kids. But if we want an even healthier Nebraska, don't stop with SNAP.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
32 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Salmonella poisoning linked to pistachio cream sickens 4 in Minnesota and New Jersey
Four people have been sickened in two states by salmonella poisoning linked to pistachio cream, a nut butter spread used in desserts and other dishes, federal health officials said Monday. Three people in Minnesota and one in New Jersey fell ill between March 10 and May 19, including one person who was hospitalized. The outbreak is tied to Emek brand pistachio cream with a use-by date of Oct. 19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The spread, which may be packaged in 11-pound (5 kilogram) tubs, was imported from Turkey and sold online to wholesale distributors, restaurants and food service locations nationwide. It has a production code of 241019. The product should not be sold, distributed or served, the CDC said. Symptoms of salmonella poisoning can occur within hours or days of consuming contaminated food and include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. Most people recover within a week, but some can become sick enough to be hospitalized. Young children, people older than 65 and those with weakened immune systems are most at risk. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Associated Press
38 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Salmonella poisoning linked to pistachio cream sickens 4 in Minnesota and New Jersey
Four people have been sickened in two states by salmonella poisoning linked to pistachio cream, a nut butter spread used in desserts and other dishes, federal health officials said Monday. Three people in Minnesota and one in New Jersey fell ill between March 10 and May 19, including one person who was hospitalized. The outbreak is tied to Emek brand pistachio cream with a use-by date of Oct. 19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The spread, which may be packaged in 11-pound (5 kilogram) tubs, was imported from Turkey and sold online to wholesale distributors, restaurants and food service locations nationwide. It has a production code of 241019. The product should not be sold, distributed or served, the CDC said. Symptoms of salmonella poisoning can occur within hours or days of consuming contaminated food and include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. Most people recover within a week, but some can become sick enough to be hospitalized. Young children, people older than 65 and those with weakened immune systems are most at risk. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Making America healthy begins with farmers
In January 2019, at the age of 36, I was diagnosed with metastatic cancer. Amid all of the fear and worry over my health and my future, my biggest question was, 'why did this happen?' Now, President Trump's Make America Healthy Again Commission has been established to uncover the causes of the epidemic of chronic disease in our nation's young people, particularly children, and to do something about it. The MAHA Commission's assessment report marks a historic recognition of a crisis decades in the making: The American diet, shaped by a highly consolidated food system dominated by a handful of corporations, is fueling a chronic-disease crisis. Crucially, the report emphasizes that American farmers must be at the center of the nation's health. As the sixth-generation on my own family's farm, I couldn't agree more. American farmers have contributed to an abundant and affordable food supply, but a growing share of the value created by farmers' work has been captured by major food manufacturers, processors and retailers. This concentration of corporate power has not only weakened rural economies and limited market access for farmers, it has reshaped the American diet around government-subsidized, ultra-processed products that contribute to rising rates of chronic illnesses. This crisis would not be what it is without decades of unchecked mergers and acquisitions. A handful of companies now control most of the U.S. food and farm sectors, so they decide how farmers farm and what consumers eat. The way out is by investing in healthier local food systems and enforcing antitrust laws. The government, the nation's largest food purchaser, should spend its funds with producers who use regenerative, organic and grass-fed practices. Pairing this with stronger country-of-origin meat labeling and forcing the breakup of multinational monopolies will help reshape our system and allow farmers to feed their neighbors again. The MAHA Commission's report notes how powerful corporate interests have manipulated public policy to serve industry profits over public health. To undo that influence, we must reject current attempts by pesticide companies to shield themselves from accountability; oppose legislation (such as the EATS Act) that strips local governments of their authority; and reform USDA's commodity checkoff programs, which feed farmer dollars into the pockets of lobbying groups, including many of those opposing the work of the MAHA Commission. And we should implement a mandatory cooling-off period for those employees moving between USDA and the agribusinesses the agency regulates. As the administration examines pesticides for its 2026 health assessment, the process must be free of conflicts of interest. In the meantime, we can gain independence from multinational chemical suppliers by putting a priority on diversified, low-input systems (such as organic, non-GMO and regenerative) that offer similar or greater productivity and profitability compared to conventional models. Moreover, practices like cover cropping, rotational grazing and composting help build long-term soil health, improve water retention and increase farm resilience. With the right policy support, these models can form the backbone of a food system that enables farmers to be the drivers of improved health outcomes. Finally, if we want more healthy foods, the government must invest in them. Current taxpayer-backed farm programs drive the production of commodity field crops such as corn and soybeans. Farmers have shown up to the task of producing these crops, but it's been at the expense of more nutritious crops such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains, which are deemed 'specialty crops.' These programs are undermining food security and increasing our agriculture trade deficit as we rely on other countries for fruits and vegetables. The crops the government chooses to subsidize with our tax money will be most accessible for Americans. Today, those are ingredients for ultra-processed foods and feed for livestock. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said, 'a healthy person has a thousand dreams; a sick person only has one.' I know too well the truth in these words. There is nothing more important for the future of our country than for our elected officials to set aside political differences, shake off undue corporate influence and rise to this opportunity to put American farmers, not corporate profits, at the center of our nation's health. Angela Huffman is a co-founder and president of Farm Action. She has spent 15 years in food and agriculture policy reform and market development, and raises sheep on her family's sixth-generation farm in Ohio.
