I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6586 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to promote healthy eating and 
physical activity among children. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 26, 2018 
Mr. COHEN (for himself, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. 
NORTON, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. SOTO, Mr. MCGOV-
ERN, and Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to promote healthy 
eating and physical activity among children. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reducing Obesity in 
Youth Act of 2018’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
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(1) Research has shown that early childhood is 
an important time for developing dietary and phys-
ical activity behaviors that support health and well- 
being and may help prevent obesity. 
(2) Infants as young as 7 months have shown 
eating patterns that are similar to older children and 
adults. 
(3) For children under 1 year of age, promoting 
opportunities for movement (such as reaching, 
crawling, and creeping) may be the most effective 
way to increase physical activity and improve chil-
dren’s motor skills. 
(4) Children who are exposed to healthy foods 
early are more likely to prefer and eat healthy foods 
and to develop eating habits that promote healthy 
growth that can continue throughout childhood. 
(5) Healthy eating can improve a child’s learn-
ing ability and potentially lead to higher academic 
performance, along with his or her mental, social, 
and physical well-being and can contribute to in-
creased self-esteem. 
(6) A 2010 study indicated that daily physical 
activity is not only essential for healthy weight main-
tenance, but also for practicing and learning funda-
mental gross motor skills and socioemotional and 
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cognitive skills. Furthermore, when children have the 
opportunity for adequate physical activity, they ben-
efit physically, psychologically and socially. 
(7) Nearly 20 percent (1 in 5) of 2-year-olds 
spend more than 2 hours of a typical day watching 
television or videos. 
(8) The Journal of the American Medical Asso-
ciation Pediatrics found that each incremental hour 
of watching television at age 2 is associated with 
corresponding declines in school engagement, math 
achievement, and weekend physical activity, and with 
increases in bullying by classmates, consumption of 
soft drinks and snacks, and BMI at age 10. 
(9) About 20 percent of children between 2 and 
5 years of age are overweight or obese. 
(10) A study published in the New England 
Journal of Medicine in 2014 found that a third of 
children who were overweight in kindergarten were 
obese by eighth grade. Almost every child who was 
very obese remained that way, suggesting that ef-
forts must start much earlier and focus more on the 
children at greatest risk. 
(11) A study published in the New England 
Journal of Medicine in 2017 estimates that over 50 
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