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Page 1 of 2 The soaring levels of childhood obesity in American children have prompted an expert panel to recommend new nutritional standards for the nation's schools. Banning junk food from schools is being seen as the first step in tacking the obesity crisis in children.
The report released by the Institute of Medicine and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has homed in on sugary drinks, fat-laden chips and baked items like sticky cakes. The report says students at elementary, middle and high schools are exposed to unhealthy foods, which they choose over federally sponsored meal programs.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), conducted during 2003-2004 had revealed an alarming increase in child obesity rates. Around 33.6 percent of children and adolescents were overweight as found by the survey as compared with 16 percent in 2002.
Sedentary lifestyle practices coupled with a shift in diet to junk foods are the main reason behind this explosion of overweight or obese children. Obesity is linked to the so-called lifestyle diseases like type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, heart disease, poor self-esteem, and a lower health-related quality of life.
The rate of type 2 diabetes is at an all-time high in American children. In September last year a report by the Institute of Medicine had criticized the efforts to tackle child obesity. The report said although many measures were in place they were proving ineffective.
Childhood obesity is a growing menace to the society. In recent years, this epidemic has risen alarmingly. That is why the Congress requested the IOM and the CDC to review prevailing food standards and recommend guidelines to make them healthier.
The report following this request is titled Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools: Leading the Way to Healthier Youth. It says that junk foods sold in school cafeterias and vending machines do not have to follow nutritional guidelines unlike the federal meals.
The panel decided to split the foods available in schools into two tiers based on their compliance with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Tier 1
This includes meals containing at least one serving of fruit, vegetable, whole grain, non-fat or low fat dairy food. The amount of sugar in the meal should not exceed 35 per cent of total calories, while trans fats are not available in any food item.
Tier 2
Foods in this tier do not comply with nutritional standard, but include items like baked potato chips, low-sodium whole wheat crackers or animal crackers.
The panel also recommended that
* Juice drinks must be restricted to 4-ounce servings in elementary and middle schools and 8-ounce serving in high schools.
* Fats should be limited to 35 per cent of the total calorie intake
* Sodium content in snack items should be under 200 milligrams.
* Any beverages sold must not contain caffeine as it is know to increase headaches and mood swings in children.
* Water must be freely available on the campus.
Dr. Virginia Stallings of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who led the 15-member panel that drafted these guidelines, said they did not apply to bagged lunches or snack items carried to school from home.
"Because foods and beverages available on the school campus also make up a significant proportion of the daily calorie intake, they should contribute to a healthful diet. And school campuses should be an overall healthy eating environment," she added.
The new guidelines were heartily welcomed both by consumer groups as well as food associations. Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said the new recommendations were much better than the existing Agriculture Department standards.
The School Nutrition Association (SNA) welcomed the guidelines, but said it was skeptical on implementation because it is purely voluntary. "The IOM report is a very important contribution to the fight against childhood overweight, but any voluntary standard will only work if the Congress backs it up with an enforceable national nutrition standard through legislation," said Janey Thompson, President of the SNA.
Last May the American Academy of Pediatrics had recommended that doctors pay attention to the physical activity of their child patients. Physicians should encourage "healthy nutrition, reducing sedentary time, and increasing physical activity levels while providing education and health supervision about regular physical activity and reduced sedentary time to families in their practices," it had stated.
Schools have already banned or limited the sale of fizzy drinks following a deal between major companies and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation in May 2006. The Alliance is a joint venture of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association.
That initiative is a part of the Healthy Schools Program. It is thought that banning junk foods as recommended in today’s report will also go a long way in ensuring children eat healthy and consume the right amount of nutrients at schools.
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