Agricultural, Nutritional, and Physical Fitness Policies That Support National Security
Abstract
To mitigate the potential impact of malnutrition on the military s recruiting pools, Congress, on June 1946, passed Public Law (PL) 396, the National School Lunch Act. Further, Congress declared that PL 396 was drafted as a matter of national security and as policy to safeguard the health and well-being of the nation's children. Sixty-four years later in April 2010, a group of retired U.S. general and flag officers declared that the escalating rates of childhood obesity in the U.S. pose a serious threat to our national security. Their concern specifically focuses on childhood obesity s potential impact on the military services recruiting pools. An obvious dichotomy exists between Congress intent with PL 396 and the obesity crises today. This paper analyzes U.S. agricultural, nutrition, and physical fitness policies to show that those policies have contributed to childhood and adult obesity and to an increasingly overweight population. It shows that the industrial diet that is in currency today is the main cause behind the obesity crises and that it is counter to what is the human natural diet. It then further provides recommendations to realign the value of a healthy and fit population with the requirements of national security.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 24, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA552989
Entities
People
- George L. Charfauros Jr.
Organizations
- United States Army War College