WP: Junk food widely available at U.S. elementary schools despite anti-obesity push

[karla cook]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/junk-food-widely-available-at-us-elementary-schools-despite-anti-obesity-push/2012/02/06/gIQACbl9uQ_story.html



By Dina ElBoghdady, Monday, February 6, 8:06 PM

Nearly half of elementary school children can buy junk food at school,
a trend that contributes to the childhood obesity epidemic and
underscores the need for federal regulation of school snacks,
according to a study published Monday in a pediatric journal.

The study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, comes as
federal regulators are crafting a proposal that would set new
nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold in vending machines,
snack bars and elsewhere in schools.

The proposal will not cover foods that are part of the federally
subsidized school meal program. That program was revamped recently by
the Obama administration and requires participating school cafeterias
to start serving twice as many fruits and vegetables, more whole
grains and less sodium and fat when the next school year begins.

Consumer advocates are hoping for an equally dramatic change in so-
called “competitive foods” that are sold outside the school meal
program. They say these foods, including potato chips and cookies, are
widely available but barely regulated in schools.

Federal law bans only a small subset of competitive foods, such as
sodas and certain types of candy, from being sold in cafeterias during
mealtime. But those products are available to kids in other venues at
school, even during lunch, according to the study, which was published
in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Such foods also
include sandwiches, pizza and other a la carte items that are not
federally reimbursed.

“Really, it’s a very weak regulation at this point,” said Lindsey
Turner, lead author of the study and a health psychologist at the
University of Illinois at Chicago. “We’re at a time of transition and
opportunity for these competitive foods.”

The study, based on mail-back surveys from about 3,900 public and
private elementary schools nationwide, found that about half of the
students could buy foods in one or more competitive venues during the
2009-10 school year. Access to these foods did not change
significantly during the 2006-07 through 2009-10 school years.

The study highlighted “striking” regional differences. About 60
percent of public elementary school kids had access to sugary snacks
in the South, where childhood obesity rates are the highest. This
compares with 24 percent in the West and 30 percent in the Midwest.
But fruits and vegetables also were more available in the South.

The study assessed only access to snacks, not consumption or the link
to obesity. It cited a separate 2009 study, however, in the Journal of
the American Dietetic Association showing that 29 percent of
elementary school students consumed competitive foods, usually
unhealthy ones. A separate study strongly linked the availability of
unhealthy foods and drinks in competitive venues with greater calorie
intake.

In early 2010, the American Beverage Association said that its members
had voluntarily reduced the calories in drinks shipped to schools by
88 percent. Its members also stopped offering full-calorie soft drinks
in elementary school vending machines.

Jim McCarthy, president of the Snack Food Association, said he had not
seen this week’s study. But the group’s members, including Frito-Lay
and Kraft, have been voluntarily reducing fats, sodium and sugars in
their products for at least six years, he said. Last week, the
chairman and highest-ranking Democrat on the House agriculture
committee wrote a letter urging Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to
make sure that the final proposal is consistent with the standards set
for the federally funded school meal program.