Читать книгу Keeping the Whole Child Healthy and Safe - Marge Scherer - Страница 11

by David Satcher

Research shows that nutrition and physical activity affect student academic achievement.

Remember when children came home from school and played outside before dinner? When fast food was a novel treat, and soft drinks came in a cup small enough for a child to hold in one hand? When kids walked or rode their bikes to school and went home for lunch?

Things have changed in recent decades. Students no longer go home for lunch, restaurant serving sizes have expanded along with customers' waistlines, and many children—out of desire or necessity—stay indoors watching television or playing computer games. Only 2 percent of school-age children in the United States consume the recommended daily number of servings from all five major food groups (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1994–1996). Schools have changed, too, selling candy, chips, and soda while offering fewer opportunities for students to be physically active.

During the last two decades, many school systems have abolished recess and cut back on physical education and extracurricular sports. According to the American Association for the Child's Right to Play, an estimated 20 percent of all elementary schools in the United States have dropped recess in favor of more classroom time (Tyre, 2004). Fewer than 25 percent of children in the United States get at least 30 minutes of any kind of daily physical activity (International Life Sciences Institute, 1997), and fewer than 30 percent of U.S. high school students attend physical education class every day (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1999). Not surprisingly, these cultural shifts have resulted in a marked decline in children's health.

Today, 9 million children in the United States are overweight—triple the number in 1980 (Ogden, Flegal, Carroll, & Johnson, 2002). Poor nutrition and sedentary lifestyles are the root causes. The incidence of overweight in children is much higher among African American and Latino children than in other groups (Hoelscher et al., 2004; Thorpe et al., 2004).

Overweight and obesity are not just cosmetic issues—they are health issues. Childhood weight problems can lead to elevated blood pressure and cholesterol, joint problems, Type II diabetes, gallbladder disease, asthma, depression, and anxiety (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). Severely overweight children miss four times as much school as normal-weight children and often suffer from depression, anxiety disorders, and isolation from their peers (Schwimmer, Burwinkle, & Varni, 2003). These problems often continue into adulthood, with 70–80 percent of overweight children and adolescents becoming obese adults.