Why California must lead on children’s nutrition – San Bernardino Sun

This week, the California Senate faces one of the most consequential votes on children’s health in state history.

Assembly Bill 1264, authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, would make California the first state in the nation to legally define ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and begin phasing the worst of them out of schools. As so often goes California, so goes the nation.

The stakes could not be higher. About two-thirds of the calories American children consume come from ultra-processed foods. In California alone, schools serve close to one billion meals each year, many of them ultra-processed, making our state one of the largest distributors of such foods to children in the country.

These products were deliberately engineered to be hyper-palatable and addictive. In the 1980s and 1990s, tobacco companies bought major food corporations. They directed resources toward creating cheap, irresistible products, shifting their addiction-driven business model from cigarettes to food.

The consequences are devastating. Obesity and type 2 diabetes rates among youth have climbed sharply, and colorectal cancer incidence in young adults has roughly doubled since the mid-1990s. Today, six in ten Americans live with at least one chronic disease, many linked to diet and largely preventable.

I know this crisis personally. After years of battling my own chronic illness, I began to heal when I cut ultra-processed foods from my diet. What I experienced firsthand has been validated by experts at leading institutions. Stanford Medicine researchers have warned about the dangers of UPFs, and the American Academy of Pediatrics’ California chapter has formally endorsed AB 1264.

Non-partisan groups like End Chronic Disease (ECD), which I was proud to work with in Sacramento, are on the front lines pushing for reform. ECD has become a model for how to create real change in this new era by engaging credible scientists and doctors, and focusing on peer-reviewed evidence. They are reaching rural communities and, in the past year alone, have helped advance dozens of laws across multiple states, impacting tens of millions. That is the hallmark of the movement we need now — one rooted in science, data, and evidence embraced by the medical community at large.

AB 1264 is historic because it tackles the problem at its core. For the first time, it would create a legal definition of UPFs and begin to remove the worst of them from school meals. That definition matters. It would cover foods with industrial additives such as colorants, emulsifiers, non-nutritive sweeteners, and other formulations tied to health harms and hyperpalatability. For children, especially those in underserved communities who depend on school meals, this bill would be life-changing.

Some critics say the bill does not go far enough. And it is true: AB 1264 will not end ultra-processed foods overnight. But it is a monumental step in the right direction. For too long, we have allowed powerful corporations to dictate what our children eat, and the health outcomes speak for themselves. This bill is about undoing decades of betrayal to our kids, who deserve better.

What makes this moment even more powerful is the breadth of support behind the bill. In a time of deep political division, AB 1264 has won bipartisan momentum. Several major agricultural groups, once opposed, have moved to neutral or support after amendments, thanks to Assemblymember Gabriel’s work in good faith. To my surprise, when I traveled to Sacramento last week, I found Republicans even more eager than some Democrats to see this reform move forward. That tells you something: the health of our children should never be a partisan issue.

Being in that room in Sacramento was unforgettable. The energy was electric! Doctors, parents, lawmakers, and advocates all aligned on the urgent need for change. I was cleared by my doctor to make the trip despite being due to give birth any day now, because I could not imagine sitting out this fight. If there is ever a moment to rise up for the health of our kids, it is now.