A presentation Wednesday made clear to a committee of lawmakers the dangers and prevalence of obesity among Utah schoolchildren.

What is less clear is how — and even if — they are willing to take a bite out of the problem by mandating vending machines in public schools distribute only healthy snacks.

"We can turn the lights out on a Snickers bar for a few hours," cautioned Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-West Point, "but if we haven't taught children about personal responsibility, all we've done is turn those lights off for three hours."

The already apparent reluctance of lawmakers to override a school district's local control came after a slide show presented to members of the Health and Human Services interim committee.

Julie Metos, who heads Utah's branch of Action for Healthy Kids, led committee members through some startling statistics and outlined seven ways the Legislature could help, including funding incentive programs in each school.

"We need some leadership to make more of an impact on this issue," Metos said, explaining her organization has embraced an awareness campaign, but more needs to be done.

Metos pointed to a 2002 survey by the Utah Department of Health that shows 11.7 percent of children ages 6 to 11 in Utah are considered obese. The national rate is 11.3 percent.

"We're not doing any better than the rest of the nation," she said.

Utah has enough children considered overweight to fill 124 elementary schools, Metos said.

"We know these children will not live as long as their parents," because of the inherent medical problems that accompany extra weight, she said.

A 2003 federal grant received by the state Office of Education did provide some schools with the opportunity to embrace "model" projects to tackle the problem.

Aside from health fairs and renewed emphasis on physical fitness activities, some schools such as Cyprus High and Hurricane Middle School chose to replace candies and soda in vending machines with products like cheese, milk, juice and yogurt.

The decision was met with positive results, but the state has no regulatory authority over vending machines placed outside of cafeteria areas, said Laura Oscarson-Wilde, who oversees the office's nutrition program.

Schools can independently enter into contracts with companies like soda distributors and tap into a source of funding fueled by students craving a sugar fix.

"Kids have become the battleground between Coke and Pepsi or McDonald's and Burger King," said Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake. "It's absolutely shameful that schools are not sacred from this mass marketing."

But at least one lawmaker said if students had higher-quality food coming from the lunchroom, they might not be so quick to head to the vending machine.