Guess What F Is For? Fat

Obesity spurs Arkansas to something new: grading fitness. Now other states are weighing doing the same

The way state representative Gary Biggs sees it, things in Arkansas had pretty much reached critical mass. Not only were 60% of adults in the state overweight or obese, but their kids were catching up fast: a quarter of Arkansas' high school students are overweight or "at risk." The state health director estimates that Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as the adult-onset variety, is up 800% in kids over the past decade. Even the state's preschoolers have grown shockingly plump: almost 10% are overweight. Says Biggs: "I have been on the house public-health committee for three terms, and I got tired...

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