House Bill 9173

    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HR 9173

        By Representative Kelly






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution urging the increased education of

  3         the citizens of the state with regard to the

  4         awareness, prevention, and treatment of

  5         diet-related diseases.

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  7         WHEREAS, food is the substance by which life is

  8  sustained, and the type and quality of food that individuals

  9  consume each day plays a vital role in their overall health

10  and physical fitness, whereas a poor diet and inadequate

11  physical activity are second only to smoking as a cause of

12  premature death in the United States, causing some 300,000

13  deaths each year, and

14         WHEREAS, four of the top ten leading causes of death

15  among Americans, including heart disease, cancer, stroke, and

16  diabetes, are directly related to food choices, accounting for

17  seven out of every ten deaths in the United States each year

18  and decreasing the quality of life for millions more, and

19         WHEREAS, nutrition has been recognized as a crucial

20  part of preventing and treating osteoporosis, which threatens

21  over 25 million Americans; the Centers for Disease Control

22  estimates that proper nutrition, essential for healthy

23  pregnancy outcomes and normal birth weights, could reduce the

24  incidence of neural tube birth defects by 50 to 70 percent;

25  and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey has

26  shown that increasing caloric intake and declining physical

27  activity are the two primary behavioral factors associated

28  with the epidemic of obesity, and

29         WHEREAS, medical nutrition therapy provided by

30  qualified health professionals is an essential part of the

31  treatment for numerous diseases and life-threatening or

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HR 9173

    90-429A-00






  1  debilitating conditions, and it has been noted that patients

  2  receiving medical nutrition therapy require fewer

  3  hospitalizations and medications and have fewer complications

  4  and ultimately lower health care costs, and

  5         WHEREAS, there is a need for continuing nutrition

  6  education and a wide-scale effort to enhance good dietary

  7  practices, NOW, THEREFORE,

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  9  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

10  Florida:

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12         That the House of Representatives, in recognizing the

13  importance of diet as it relates to health, urges that a

14  concerted effort be made to impress upon the residents of

15  Florida the value of good nutrition in the prevention and

16  treatment of disease.

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