U.S. obesity epidemic advancing

BY JOAQUIN ORAMAS

DESPITE national anti-obesity campaigns, the majority of U.S. schools are continuing to offer popular foodstuffs high in calories and low in protein.

From the first day of classes, schools greet students with junk food filled parties and in the cafeteria they will find French fries, hamburgers and sodas.

In addition, "fast food" chains such as McDonald's or Pizza Hut frequently have outlets on or near campuses where the majority of students spend their afternoons.

The cafeterias also offer salads, yogurt, and fruit juice along with the fattening foods; but fast food dominates.

"We are killing our children with this food," affirmed Susan Combs Texas Department of Agriculture commissioner and advocate for school nutrition and against the child and adolescent obesity trend.

This situation is becoming typical in the United States. Since 1970, the number of overweight children has doubled or possibly tripled, according to a study by the Institute of Medicine commissioned by the U.S. Congress.

In the United States around nine million school-age children, or 15%, are overweight. Other studies have shown this figure as high as 40%.

The spread of the obesity epidemic in children is advancing faster than was previously thought, commented Joe Thompson, director of the independent Arkansas Health Center.

At the same time physical education in schools is on the decline. More than 40% of students have no physical activity class, according to Time magazine. Only 6% of schools include physical activity every day.

Part of the problem appears to be the growing pressure on students.

There is a clear change in culture. Simple activities of youngsters are excluded, claims Rhonda Clements, president of the American Association for the Child’s Right to Play.

Youth are increasingly under more stress and filling themselves with fattening foods is one of their responses to that, she adds. Obesity is associated with 300,000 deaths per year. Approximately 80% of obese adolescents will continue being overweight for the rest of their lives. Less than 5% of adults who lose weight are capable of maintaining their ideal weight for five years after treatment and 6% recover the lost weight in the first six to 12 months.

The reality in U.S. schools does not correspond to nutrition regulations. There are basic rules for school cafeterias, but the majority of them can barely even heat up prepared food. Frequently the school budget is less than one dollar per student.

Although 21 of 50 U.S. states have passed legislation restricting snack and soda vending machines in schools, they are not always followed.

Public campaigns and new ideas for cafeterias, such as those implemented in California, New York and Washington, aim to provide a more healthful diet for young people.

But the opposition should not be underestimated. The food industry and the fast food chains invest more than $10 billion in publicity directed toward children every year, according to the Institute of Medicine.

In addition, the directors of schools are interested in the candy and soda vending machines because the license fees help to augment the school budget for libraries, field trips and cultural programs.

And, if that were not enough, many educators oppose "a nutrition policy" in schools. This situation is alarming doctors because it assaults the quality of life of the younger generations.