Obese Scouts (And Leaders) Told To Stay Away

Did you catch the story the other day that kids and adults that had a BMI of over 40 were told they couldn’t come to the annual Boy Scout Jamboree? And those that had a BMI of between 32 and 39.9 had to submit documentation that they could attend.

What do you think about that?

If you look at the adult US statistics, this would represent about 30%+ of the population. (United HealthGroup report: “United States of Diabetes“)

This is one story where I’m sure there’s a lot that we’d want to know. In Time, they talk about the fact that they published the restrictions two years ago. This would have allowed people time to improve their BMI. But, jumping from 40 to 31 might be too big of a jump in two years for some people to do in a healthy way.

If I were developing this type of program for a company, I’d expect to answer these questions:

• What did you do to support the scouts and leaders in losing weight? Did you give them a coach? A registered dietician?
• Did you create a culture of health? What types of foods are at boy scout meetings?
• Is there a reasonable alternative for the obese scouts to get a similar experience if clinically appropriate?

Obviously, this isn’t a work environment so the rules are different. On the one hand, congrats to them for being brave enough to take this topic on and try to encourage scouts and leaders to have a healthy weight. On the other hand, they need to make sure they do this in a way that doesn’t shame these people and need to make sure they support their weight loss.

But, don’t be fooled. The world is going to continue to move this way. Obesity is too big of a driver of healthcare costs and other presenteeism and absenteeism impacts.

Just look at Japan…(source)

Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.

Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education after six more months.

To reach its goals of shrinking the overweight population by 10 percent over the next four years and 25 percent over the next seven years, the government will impose financial penalties on companies and local governments that fail to meet specific targets. The country’s Ministry of Health argues that the campaign will keep the spread of diseases like diabetes and strokes in check.