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BOSTON, September 27, 2005 - As health experts fret over rising obesity rates, a MetroWest lawmaker is targeting the waistlines of workers in state-owned buildings.

Such hungry workers -- in buildings from the State House to Framingham State College and the Massachusetts State Police barracks -- would have the choice of vending machines with "healthy and natural snacks" under a bill filed by state Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge.

"The increasingly health-conscious consumers have long sought to purchase health alternatives in vending machines," Moore said in a letter to the Senate chairwoman of the joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight, which took up his bill yesterday. The bill would apply to all state-owned buildings, according to a Moore spokeswoman.

Laurie Bergeron, head administrative assistant at the Framingham District Court, predicted a machine with low-fat options such as pita chips and yogurt would be a hit in her bustling workplace.

"Definitely, I think people would like that," she said, adding her co-workers are drawn to the few low-fat options in the court's candy-centric vending machine.

"People usually get low-fat pretzels, dried fruit," she said. Those wanting a greater variety of healthy snacks, she said, have to venture to convenience stores.

Moore's bill -- which state Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, co-sponsored -- calls for vending machines with snacks that do not have artificial flavors, colorings or preservatives. The snacks cannot derive more than 35 percent of their calories from fat or 10 percent from saturated fat.

The measure does not call for removing a building's current vending options, but providing healthier snacks alongside them.

"I'm very much in favor of the fact that we should offer choices," said Pat Luoto, director of the John C. Stalker Institute of Food and Nutrition at Framingham State College.

Asked if Moore's proposal would impact people's health, Luoto said: "I think every little bit helps."

Obesity among adults and children has spiked in the past two decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A full 30 percent of U.S. adults 20 years old and older are obese; For children aged 6-19, 16 percent are considered overweight, according to the CDC.

In Massachusetts high schools, nearly 10 percent of students are overweight, according to the Legislature's joint Public Health Committee.

Child health experts, including Framingham Health Services Director Marcia Buckminster, will gather at a State House forum sponsored by the Public Health Committee and the Massachusetts Public Health Association tomorrow.

Attendees will talk about causes of disease-causing obesity, including the over-consumption of junk food and inactive lifestyles.

State Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, House chairman of the Public Health Committee, said schools must play a role in steering children's food options.

"We're acting as parents during the school day, sometimes for two meals, and we shouldn't be offering unhealthy choices," he said.

A bill Koutoujian filed to ban the sale of caffeinated drinks, candy bars and sugary, fattening food during school hours will be aired at a Public Health Committee hearing next week.

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