Health & wellness
BY HANNAH NORTON
Legislature eyes stricter food safety standards to curb disease
While life expectancy has risen in recent years, Americans are getting sick earlier in life, health and wellness experts told the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Nov. 13. In response to a rise in obesity and other chronic diseases, some state senators said they would consider tightening regulations on food additives, like chemicals and articial dyes, to improve food safety and better inform consumers. The details Roughly 40% of U.S. adults were considered obese—dened as a body mass index of 30 or above—between August 2021-August 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. That’s up from 15% in 1976, according to the National Institutes of Health. “I don’t think that our government has focused as much as we should on these root causes [of chronic disease],” committee chair Sen. Lois Kolk- horst, RBrenham, said. “We’re not addressing regulation of food additives and other factors that may be strongly connected to this phenomenon.” Jason Karp, CEO of health company HumanCo, said the “root cause” of Americans’ health issues is “the unchecked and misguided industrializa- tion of agriculture and food.” California is the rst state to ban six articial dyes from food and drinks served at public schools, Karp said. The California Food Safety Act, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 28, will prohibit public schools from serving foods containing Blue Dye 1, Blue Dye 2, Green Dye 3, Red Dye 40, Yellow Dye 5 or Yellow Dye 6 begin- ning in late 2027. Senators said they would like to see Texas
follow suit. “These known toxins that other countries and other [states] have already said, ‘No, you’re not going to poison our people over here’—it’s time for us to step up and join in,” Sen. Bob Hall, REdgewood, said. “We’re not going to change people’s habits overnight on how they raise their kids and what they eat and how they cook ... but we can at least do the responsible thing.” Bills to watch Sen. Bryan Hughes, RMineola, led a bill Nov. 12 that would ban seven food additives from free and reduced-price meals served in Texas public schools. Senate Bill 314 lists brominated vegeta- ble oil (BVO), potassium bromate, propylparaben, azodicarbonamide, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), Red Dye 3 and titanium dioxide as the proposed substances to be banned. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned BVO on Aug. 2, giving companies one year to reformulate, relabel and stop selling products containing the stabilizer. Few U.S. products still use BVO, according to the FDA. Put in perspective Americans are “living sick longer,” Karp said. Colon and rectal cancer are the leading cause of cancer deaths in men under age 50 and the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in women under age 50, according to a 2024 report by the American Cancer Society. “I don’t think necessarily lifespan is the only variable to look at,” Karp added. “‘Health span’ is a new term that they’re using, which is how you feel when you’re 60 or 70 or 80.”
The eects of obesity and diabetes Nearly one-third of Texans have diabetes or prediabetes, according to the Episcopal Health Foundation. Prediabetes occurs when an individual has a higher-than-normal blood sugar level and is at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Texas senators are considering tightening food safety regulations to help reduce the rate of diabetes and other chronic diseases.
Texans diagnosed with diabetes : 2.7 million
Texans with prediabetes : 7.1 million
Texas population: 30.5 Million
Over 34% of Texas adults were considered obese in 2023
Obesity is linked to up to 53% of new cases of type 2 diabetes each year
Obesity and diabetes are expensive: • Americans with diabetes have 2.6 times higher medical costs than those without • In 2021, an obese American with employer- sponsored health insurance spent about $1,487 out-of-pocket on average, while those without obesity spent about $698
SOURCES: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION AND EPISCOPAL HEALTH FOUNDATIONCOMMUNITY IMPACT
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