Still battling weight in Arkansas
Saturday, May 7, 2011 - 23:30
in Health & Medicine
In 2003, an initiative targeting childhood obesity was signed into law. Since then, schools have changed, but the behaviors of students and their families largely have not.For at least two decades, Arkansas has been among the heaviest states in the nation: By 2000, the state's obesity rate was 20% to 24% and rising. Appalled, in 2003 then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — who had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and famously went on to shed more than 100 pounds — became a champion for healthy lifestyles in his home state.