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A Supersize Problem

by Eric K. Gill

School wellness policies tackle overweight students, declining physical activities, and everpopular vending machines.

An estimated 17 percent of U.S. children are overweight, and policymakers are turning to schools to help students trim down and shape up. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention reports the number of overweight children ages 6–11 has doubled in the past 20 years; for adolescents 12–19 years old, the overweight figure has tripled. The CDC found that 80 percent of all high school students fail to eat the recommended daily allowance of fruits and vegetables, while more than 60 percent of U.S. children consume too much saturated fat (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006).

These statistics arrive 40 years after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Child Nutrition Act. At the time, many children in poor urban and rural communities came to school hungry and went home unfed. The law acknowledged the relationship between "nutrition and the capacity of children to develop and learn," and the government pledged to assist states "through grants-in-aid and other means, to meet more effectively the nutritional needs of our children" (Child Nutrition Act of 1966, Section 2).

Today's overweight epidemic is also occurring predominantly within the nation's poorest urban and rural areas. The CDC reports childhood overweight numbers are highest among Mexican American boys, non-Hispanic black girls, American Indian youth, and non-Hispanic white students from low-income families. In its well-meaning effort to feed the nation's poorest children, it seems the United States has succeeded at feeding them poorly.

Generation Extra Large

Among the many causes of today's overweight problem are fast-food chains, snack-food companies, and beverage manufacturers, which target young people and encourage consumption through promotional tie-ins, two-for-one deals, and free beverage refills. Apparently, these marketing strategies work. The CDC claims the average daily consumption of soft drinks among young girls doubled from 1978 to 1998, while consumption of carbonated sodas nearly tripled among boys during the same 20-year span.

As Coca-Cola boasts, "More than 1.3 billion times a day someone enjoys one of our beverages" (The Coca-Cola Company, n.d., para. 2).

Meanwhile, magazine covers tout sugar-free, low-carb, high-fiber, polyunsaturated foods for kids. Last fall, Mickey Mouse even scurried into the act when Disney announced it would revamp the children's menus at its theme parks with healthier foods.

The renewed focus on adolescent eating habits arrives as districts participating in federally funded school-meals programs are required to develop local wellness policies. The Child Nutrition and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Reauthorization Act of 2004 requires districts partaking in subsidized school breakfast and lunch programs to establish nutrition guidelines and physical activity goals by the end of the 2006–07 school year.

"The U.S. wellness policy requirement reinforces the actions many schools and districts had already begun in order to support the needs of the whole child," said Theresa Lewallen, ASCD's director of Healthy School Communities. "Successful, sustained implementation will only come about, however, if schools and communities work together to ensure that students learn in environments that help them develop lifelong healthy habits."

Mirroring ASCD's whole child approach, the CDC is promoting a Healthy Youth! initiative with its Coordinated School Health Program. The underlying theme is cooperation. "Schools by themselves cannot, and should not be expected to, address the nation's most serious health and social problems," the CDC declares on its Web site. "Families, health care workers, the media, religious [and] community organizations that serve youth, and young people themselves also must be systematically involved" (CDC, 2005, para. 1).

Imogene Clarke, director of Student Nutrition Services for Richland One School District in Columbia, S.C., is optimistic parents will participate in improving children's health. Richland One has more than 24,000 K–12 students enrolled in 47 schools. It implemented a Healthy and Nutritious Environment policy in compliance with the Reauthorization Act of 2004, and one goal is to curtail consumption of sodas.

"We don't have a say-so over what students bring for lunch from home, but we asked parents for their cooperation in not sending carbonated beverages to school, and you'd be surprised how many have complied," said Clarke, who supports schools taking an assertive role in child nutrition. "I think because we have students for such a long time during the day, it's an excellent opportunity for us to safeguard their health."

Penny McConnell, director of Food and Nutrition for Fairfax County Schools in Virginia, agrees: "We need to provide an environment, a wellness policy, and partnership where students are ready to learn. I stress the term 'partnership' because I think it's important that we work with parents, teachers, nurses, and students."

In South Carolina, Clarke pointed out, culture plays a huge role in what children learn to eat. "I'm African American, and I don't prepare food the way my mother did, but with lower-income families, you buy and eat what you can afford."

Despite the data showing a preponderance of overweight problems among poor American students, experts agree that nutrition education is important for everyone, regardless of economic levels.

"Parents also need to be educated, and they need to take an active role in planning family exercise programs," said McConnell of Fairfax, which is ranked 11th in highest per capita income among U.S. counties. "Nutrition education impacts what students eat—before and after school. Parents need to work with us and become role models."

The Fairfax County school district, which has about 164,000 K–12 students enrolled in 239 schools, implemented a progressive "competitive foods" policy in 1986. Although Fairfax schools allow vending machines, McConnell explained they incorporate electronic timers designed to prevent sales of sodas during school hours.

Soul Foods and Whole Children

Fabiola Gaines, a nutritionist who codeveloped the Soul Food Pyramid, echoed ASCD's whole child approach. "We need to explain proper eating habits to children, and I think through nutrition education in schools, children will influence their families," she said.

Gaines said it's critical to relate to children on a socioeconomic level. "You have to understand the culture of the community you're trying to work with," said Gaines, a partner with Hebni Nutrition Consultants in Orlando, Fla., and coauthor of cookbooks for diabetics. "With the cookbooks, we're trying to give healthier alternatives for traditional soul foods. Our forefathers needed those foods because you can't work in the fields all day and eat salads. The problem is we're still eating those traditional foods, but we're driving to the mailbox."

Gaines, who runs an after-school program for kids, reports that half of the participants are overweight. To curtail this, she started a cooking class that encompasses nutrition education and exercise. However, she remains realistic about teaching students to eat healthy. "We're not trying to get them to lose weight at first. We're just trying to get them to stop gaining weight—to exercise and burn more calories."

Fairfax County offers a similar program. "We have a wonderful 4th grade cooking class, and the kids are taking the recipes home," McConnell said, noting that the district's Web site offers a nutrition calculator for parents, students, and teachers that encourages them to tally calories and vitamins on food and beverage labels. Fairfax also implemented a food-tasting program in which each school principal selects a focus group of lunch buyers and nonbuyers. Vendors bring in new foods for evaluation, and students rate their favorites.

"Choices are important for children," McConnell said. "It's my job to make sure they are healthy choices."

The Weight of History

After decades of neglecting the overweight problem, everyone seems to have something to say about childhood obesity, a term some psychologists find offensive. Although a lot of children are overweight, they argue it's insensitive and counterproductive to label them as obese.

No matter how students are labeled, Gaines is primarily concerned with changing their behaviors. "We have to get the physical activities back in schools if we want to address the child obesity issue," she insisted. "When I see a 10-year-old diabetic come into my office with type-2 [adult onset] diabetes, I think, 'Wait a minute. This can't be happening to American children.'"

The consequences of ignoring adolescent overweight problems could be dire if recent studies are accurate predictors: The University of California–Berkeley reported that "26–41 percent of overweight preschool children will become overweight adults" (2000, para. 2). Family Economics and Nutrition Review estimated "more than $68 billion" is spent annually on "direct" overweight-related U.S. health care costs (Facts About Childhood Obesity and Overweightness, 1999).

Although the economic costs to society are burdensome, the physical and emotional costs to individuals could be devastating. ASCD's Lewallen believes society has a responsibility to help students develop healthy eating habits and daily physical activities. In fact, she said it's critical if we hope to nurture whole children.

"Each child must have the opportunity to learn and to be physically and emotionally healthy," Lewallen said. "It is the mutual responsibility of schools, families, communities, and governments to make this happen. Our children deserve nothing less."

References

Facts about childhood obesity and overweightness. (1999, January). Family Economics and Nutrition Review, 12(1).

Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (2005). Healthy youth! Coordinated school health program. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/cshp

Child Nutrition Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1771 (1966). Retrieved November 13, 2006, from www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Governance/Legislation/Historical/CNA-Oct-4-2005.pdf

The Coca-Cola Company. (n.d.). Corporate responsibility. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from www2.coca-cola.com/citizenship

University of California–Berkeley Department of Nutritional Sciences. (2000, January). Childhood overweight: A fact sheet for professionals. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from nature.berkeley.edu/cwh/PDFs/bw_health_prof.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2006, May). Nutrition and the health of young people. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/nutrition/pdf/facts.pdf

Originally published in the January 2007 issue of Education Update, 49(1).