This appeared in the New York Times today, April 27,
2009 on the editorial page. This is one facet of the problem How
about reinstating mandatory daily physical education that is physical and
educational. We need to teach our children how to exercise, when to exercise
and what to do.
Selling
Obesity at School
The federal school lunch
program, which subsidizes meals for 30 million low-income children, was created
more than half a century ago to combat malnutrition. A breakfast program was
added during the 1960s, and both were retooled a decade ago in an attempt to
improve the nutritional value of food served at school.
More must now be done to fight the childhood obesity epidemic, which has
triggered a frightening spike in weight-related disorders like diabetes,
high-blood pressure and heart disease among young people. And the place to
start is the schools, where junk foods sold outside the federal meals programs
— through snack bars, vending machines and à la carte food lines — has pretty
much canceled out the benefits of all those healthy lunches and breakfasts.
Federal rules that govern the sales of these harmful foods at schools are
limited in scope and have not been updated for nearly 30 years. Until new
regulations are written, children who are served healthy meals in the school
cafeteria will continue to buy candy bars, sugary drinks and high sodium snacks
elsewhere in school.
Fortunately, Congress seems to be waking up to this problem. A bill
introduced by Representative Lynn Woolsey, Democrat of California, would update
nutritional standards and give the Department of Agriculture broader authority
to promulgate new regulations for food sold in schools that accept federal food
subsidies. Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, has said that he will
introduce similar legislation in the Senate.
Many states’ school districts have taken positive steps. But others are
likely to resist, especially districts that sell junk food to finance athletic
programs, extracurricular activities, even copier expenses.
Those districts should take note of a study released this year in West
Virginia showing that the budgetary costs of switching from sodas to healthy
drinks like fruit juices, milk and water were negligible. Even if the switch
costs money, so be it. The schools should not be trading their students’ health
to buy office supplies.
Over the last four decades, the obesity rates for adolescents have tripled.
Unless there is decisive action, weight and inactivity-related disorders will afflict
a steadily larger proportion of the work force and replace smoking as the
leading cause of premature death.