I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4820 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national program 

to conduct and support activities toward the goal of significantly reducing 

the number of cases of overweight and obesity among individuals in 

the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 9, 2014 

Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 

a national program to conduct and support activities 

toward the goal of significantly reducing the number 

of cases of overweight and obesity among individuals 

in the United States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Healthier 

5 Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘LIFE Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds as follows: 

3 (1) Currently, 64.5 percent of adults in the 

4 United States, age 20 years and older, are over5 weight and 72 million (more than one-third of the 

6 adult population in the United States) are obese. 

7 (2) Data from two National Health and Nutri8 tion Examination Surveys show that among adults 

9 who are 20 to 74 years of age the prevalence of obe10 sity increased from 15.0 percent in the 1976–1980 

11 survey to 34.9 percent in the 2011–2012 survey. 

12 (3) In 2011 and 2012, of children and adoles13 cents 2 to 19 years of age more than 12,500,000 (or 

14 17 percent) were overweight, and of adults more 

15 than 66,000,000 (or 34.9 percent) were obese. Al16 most 6 percent of adults were extremely obese. 

17 (4) The percentage of children who are obese 

18 has more than doubled, and among adolescents the 

19 percentage has more than tripled, since 1980 the 

20 obesity rate for adolescents increased from 5 percent 

21 to 21 percent. 

(5) More than 1 22 ⁄3 of adults in the United States 

23 do not get enough physical activity and national 

24 data have shown an increase in the calorie consump25 tion of adults. 


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1 (6) The rising rates of obesity portend greater 

2 disease and health conditions including hypertension, 

3 high total cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, coronary 

4 heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, 

5 osteoporosis, sleep apnea, and respiratory problems, 

6 and some cancers, such as endometrial, breast, and 

7 colon cancer. 

8 (7) Many underlying factors have been linked to 

9 the increase in obesity, such as increasing portion 

10 sizes, eating out more often, increased consumption 

11 of sugar-sweetened drinks, increasing television, 

12 computer, and electronic gaming time, changing 

13 labor markets, and fear of crime, which prevents 

14 outdoor exercise. 

15 (8) Chronic diseases account for 1.7 million, or 

16 70 percent, of all deaths in the United States each 

17 year. Although chronic diseases are among the most 

18 common and costly health problems, they are also 

19 among the most preventable. Adopting a healthy 

20 lifestyle such as eating nutritious foods and engag21 ing in physical activity, can prevent or control the 

22 devastating effects of these diseases. Although 

23 chronic diseases are among the most common and 

24 costly health problems, they are also among the 

25 most preventable. 


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1 (9) In 2008, overall medical costs related to 

2 obesity for United States adults were estimated to 

3 be as high as $147 billion. People who were obese 

4 had medical costs that were on average $1,429 high5 er than the cost for people of normal body weight. 

6 SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN PREVALENCE OF OBESITY; PRO7 GRAM FOR LIFELONG IMPROVEMENTS IN 

8 FOOD AND EXERCISE. 

9 Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.) is amended by inserting after sec11 tion 317T the following section: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 317U. REDUCTION IN PREVALENCE OF OBESITY. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

14 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre15 vention, shall carry out a national program to conduct and 

16 support activities regarding individuals who are over17 weight or obese in order to make progress toward the goal 

18 of significantly reducing the number of cases of obesity 

19 among individuals in the United States. 

20 ‘‘(b) CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out sub21 section (a), the Secretary shall (directly or through grants 

22 or contracts) carry out the following with respect to indi23 viduals who are overweight: 

24 ‘‘(1) Activities to train health professionals to 

25 recognize that patients are overweight and to recVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:52 Jun 10, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4820.IH H4820

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1 ommend prevention activities regarding such condi2 tion, including educating patients on the relationship 

3 between such condition and cardiovascular disease, 

4 diabetes, and other health conditions, and on proper 

5 nutrition and regular physical activities. 

6 ‘‘(2) Activities to educate the public with re7 spect to the condition of being overweight, including 

8 the development of a strategy for a public awareness 

9 campaign. 

10 ‘‘(3) The development and demonstration of 

11 intervention strategies for use at worksites and in 

12 community settings such as hospitals and commu13 nity health centers. 

14 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

15 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

16 to be appropriated $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2015, and 

17 such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 

18 2016 through 2018.’’. 

Æ 


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