The Growing Epidemic in Schools: Obesity

Perkins, Bradley

College Writing II

Cover Letter for: The Growing Epidemic in Schools: Obesity

Professor Michael Parsons

December 9, 2010

Dear Respective Reader,

            This is a research paper on a growing epidemic in American schools, obesity. Physical fitness and nutrition have always been of great interest to me, so when choosing a topic, obesity came to mind. As a future teacher, I choose to write on obesity because it is a huge problem that relates to many children and teens. The number of obese children and teens will continue to grow until something drastic is done about it. That is why school nutrition and fitness is vital for students to have a healthy lifestyle. This paper displays problems, solutions, and detailed information on obesity in schools. I hope you enjoy this paper as much as I enjoyed writing       it.

Brad Perkins

Perkins, Bradley

College Writing II

Professor Michael Parsons

December 9^, 2010

The Growing Epidemic in Schools: Obesity  

            One out of three children under the age of 18 is considered overweight or obese (Leslie). This number is expected to grow until something drastic is done to slow or stop childhood obesity. Even worse, the number of obese adults is even higher than children. This proves eating healthy and exercise is not part of the family values anymore. Since a child spends the majority of his or her day in school, it is the schools responsibility more than the parents to give each student the daily amount of exercise, healthy meals choices for breakfast and lunch, and educate students to eat nutritionally well.

The movie, Supersize Me, is a documentary film where the experimenter, Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald’s food for 30 days straight for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Besides eating just fast food, Spurlock and his team also did several investigations on contributing factors to obesity such as what is in the food that people eat, and the amount that a person can get at one time. In the movie, Spurlock spent time connecting obesity, fast food, and children. Spurlock went to three different schools and analyzed how the schools foods contributed to childhood obesity (Holtreman).

The first school in Naperville, Illinois shows how school staff turns a blind eye towards what students buy and eat. Even when a student buys nothing but candy or chips, the staff believes they brought a sack lunch with healthier foods, realistically this never happens. This particular school food is serviced by Sodexho, which is one of the lowest and cheapest food services around. Sodexho supplies over 400 kindergarten through twelfth grade school districts nationwide providing foods such as Little Debbie snacks, Gatorade, and candy bars to students. Sodexho also operates prisons and feeds thousands of inmates worldwide with the same kinds of foods fed in school cafeterias. A Sodexho representative, Barbara Brown, stated that she hopes the students nutrition education will guide them to make healthy decisions without restricting of what they can purchase (SuperSize Me Health in Schools).

The second school in Beckley, West Virginia offers its meals from a government sponsored program called the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). The food served daily is reimbursable meals which are usually reheated, reconstituted packaged foods. The head cook at this school, Kay Glover, explained that the best tools to prepare food were the freezer and her box opener. When going over the monthly menu, only six out of thirty-six meals were homemade while the other thirty meals were reheated frozen meals (SuperSize Me Health in Schools).

The last school in Appleton, Wisconsin is an alternative high school for students with behavioral and truancy problems. Turning the student’s lives around has not been through firm discipline but, instead through diet. The school’s cafeteria food is run through the supplier, by the name of Natural Oven, which believes in low fats and sugars, foods free of dyes, preservatives, beef, and frying. Compared to USDA and Sodexho, Natural Oven uses many whole grains, fruits, and vegetables for the main ingredients in its food. The company believes in preparing the food fresh instead of thawing it directly from the box and cooking it. Another way to the school chose to keep the students healthy was to take away vending and soda machines(SuperSize Me Health in Schools).

            Although this school is a behavior alternative high school, staff has commented on how well the student’s behavior, motivation, and focus have been at Appleton. This healthier school lunch program cost about the same as any other school lunch program that serves lower quality and less nutritious foods. The question that appears now is, “Why isn’t every school doing this?” Founder of Natural Oven, Paul Stitt, answers by saying how large food distributors like USDA and Sodexho make a huge profit from distributing their foods to school cafeterias nationwide and do not want to get kicked out of the school system (SuperSize Me Health in Schools).

Vending machines serving unhealthy foods like soda, potato chips, candy, and baked goods are still a problem in schools. Although vending machines have reduced in schools, they are still a problem. Since 2000, 74 percent of middle schools and 98.2 percent of high schools had vending machines. In 2006, vending machines had decreased to 71 percent of middle schools and 89 percent of high schools. These statistics are still unacceptable since the majority of these schools allow students to purchase vending machine items during lunch. Schools are also promoting soda consumption since the majority of schools have an exclusive contract with soda companies like Pepsi or Coca-Cola. Thirty-eight percent of elementary schools, 50.4 percent of middle schools, and 71.9 percent of high schools have a contract with these corporations that promote an unhealthy life style in schools (Leslie). Turning off the vending machines during school hours is the first solution to limit student’s intake of poor nutritional foods. The second solution could be to eliminate unhealthy foods and replace them with healthier or organic snacks and drinks like StonyField Farm vending machines. The third solution is to make healthier foods more affordable than the unhealthy foods.

Since 1976, obesity has increased in both genders, across all races and ethnicities, and all age groups (Alderman). This is due to the invention of high fructose corn syrup in 1977. High fructose corn syrup is a product of corn wet-milling formed when starch is enzymatically broken down to fructose and related sugars. High fructose corn syrup serves as a substitute for sugar in food such as soda, cookies, condiments, juices, cereals, candy, and dairy products (Challem). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since the 1970s, the introduction of cost-efficient high fructose corn syrup has contributed to the obesity of millions of United States citizens. In the 1970s, before high fructose corn syrup was consumed by the public, 15 percent of the U.S. population was considered obese. Controversially, roughly one-third of Americans are considered obese. On average, Americans consume 60 pounds of different sweeteners per person every year (Parker). When planning cafeteria menus, and vending machine snacks and drinks, high fructose corn syrup needs to be left out of any type of food or drink being served by any school.

When comparing fresh and frozen foods, one has to look at the advantages and disadvantages of the overall products taste, shelf life, cost, nutrients lost or gained, and convenience. When it comes to taste, fresh fruits and vegetables usually taste better than frozen ones, and have better texture and appeal. However, convenience is troublesome for fresh foods as they need to be eaten as soon as possible after being picked due to their nutrition loss. This makes getting fresh foods to more urban locations before the food loses a substantial amount of nutrients a problem. Also fruits and vegetables are not always in season, so freezing the product makes it available year round. Fresh foods also take longer to prepare with any necessary trimmings or peelings to fruits and vegetables. Packaged frozen foods will generally already have this procedure already done for convenience. Frozen foods last tremendously longer than fresh foods which mean less food and money are wasted. Most frozen food is frozen right after the food is harvested to retain the most possible nutrients (Kids and Nutrition).

Convenience is the biggest contributor in why school’s cafeterias tend to choose frozen foods over fresh foods. Frozen foods can help plan meals in advanced. When making food for a large number of individuals at a given time, frozen food is usually trimmed and cut appropriately to make serving faster. Also, out of seasoned fruits and vegetables can be stored in freezers without relying on other expensive alternatives. Lastly, stocking food in the freezer saves space, creates less deliveries which in turn saves money, less packaging, and availability (Kids and Nutrition).

Another factor that contributes to obesity in schools using food as a fundraiser. In 2006, 54.3 percent of schools sold baked goods to raise money(Leslie). Besides baked goods, selling candy bars is also a popular way schools profit from fundraisers. A simple solution is to use nonfood items for fundraisers and rewards such as electronics, holiday specials, coupons books, or anything of popular interest.

            Unfortunately, unhealthy foods are not the only cause to obesity. Most schools provide an unhealthy environment for students that lack physical activity. A contributing factor to student obesity has been the decrease in physical exercise enrollment as 42 percent in 1991 to 28 percent in 2003. In 2006, more than 92 percent of elementary, middle, and high schools did not provide the daily amount of physical exercise, or any exercise at all, for the entire school year. The statistics are also shocking when 20.8 percent of elementary schools, 22.7 percent of middle schools, and 30.9 percent of high schools allow students to not participate in any physical activity (Leslie). The importance of physical activity decreases as a student advances to higher grade levels. Fifty percent of schools require first graders to participate in physical activity, where only 5 percent of high school seniors were required to participate in physical education (Crawley). The solution to the lack of physical exercise in schools is to make physical exercise a daily requirement for all grade school students. This also means no exemptions from physical exercise for participation in other extracurricular activities.

The call for action is simple, medical, public health, and education organizations, including the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, the National Association of State Boards of Education, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all called for students to spend more time in physical exercise classes. Forty-four states introduced bills to increase and straighten up physical exercise in schools as of 2005 alone. Having students have more physical activity does not mean students will spend more time in the gym. Researches Ken Hardman and Joe Marshall conducted a study that estimated 26 percent of physical exercise class rooms in the United States do not comply with state regulations. A study in a school district in Texas found that in a 40 minute physical exercise class, only 3 minutes and 24 seconds was actual physical training (Crawley).

            Another reason why students may be overweight and unhealthy could be due to the amount of walking one partakes in a day. One out of three American students live within one mile of their respected school, but barely half of those students bike or walk to school (Pugliese). According to a University of Michigan researcher, less than 13 percent of American children walked or biked to school in 2004, compared to more than 50 percent who did so in 1969 (Why Don’t Kids Walk to School Anymore).

Walking to school also has benefits as well. According to a study, walking to school reduces stress in children during the school day. During a short exam later in the day, the rise in blood pressure was three times greater for students who passively commuted to school. During the same exam, stress levels were doubled those who walked to school. Research done by the Department for Transport found that 9 out of 10 students who walk to school are more alert and motivated once reaching the classroom. Professor James Roemmich from the University of Buffalo said, “ The cardiovascular disease process begins in childhood, so if we can find some way of stopping or slowing that process, that would provide an important health benefit.” Roemmich also went on to say, “We know that physical activity has a protective effect on the development of cardiovascular disease, and one way it may be doing so is by reducing stress reactivity (Claire).”  An initiative was set forth by Thompson’s elementary school by encouraging students to walk or bike to school. The goal is to create a healthier environment and create less traffic during mourning and afternoons at Thompson (Flanagan).

 Finally, the public is starting to notice that the side effects of obesity pose a threat on the lives of millions of children. Obesity associated diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, joint problems, and some cancers are just a few common diseases. A solution to unhealthy foods in schools is The Great American Salad Bar Project. The goal is to have a healthy salad bar in every school across America so all students will have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains and healthy proteins, every school day. LunchBox.org and Whole Foods Market has teamed up together raising funds for at least 300 salad bars by the start of the 2011 school year. The start of change to a healthy life style for students brings hope that other supporters will help in the fight against obesity (Brady).

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has also joined in to fight against this epidemic and is committed $500 million over five years to reverse the epidemic by 2015. The program will focus most of its attention on the hardest hit schools with obesity problems by providing the schools with ideas and resources to adjust the base of the social complexity that contributes to poor health and childhood obesity. This foundation realizes that if this epidemic is not reversed, the current generation of young Americans may be the first in the history of America to live sicker and die younger than their parents’ generation. The organization recognizes that during  the day, children are at school where they are beyond their parents’ reach. Special emphasis will be placed on building a healthier environment at schools to limit the risk for obesity. Their goal is simple, improve state policies on nutrition and physical activity in schools that will benefit all children and teens. Oregon, Alabama, and Mississippi have enacted both food and beverage guidelines  by law that will be enforced in all school education system (Robert Woods Johnson  Foundation).

            Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic which continues to grow without an end in sight. If untreated, this generation of children and teens will live unhealthier and die younger than their parents. With organizations like Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, Whole Foods, and LunchBox.org, they are the stepping stone to a healthier future for America’s grade school students. If schools supply and enforce the daily amount of exercise, healthy meals choices for breakfast and lunch, and educate students to eat nutritionally well, childhood obesity will become a problem of the past.

Work Cited

Alderman, Nancy. "THE STATE OF NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN OUR SCHOOLS." ENVIRONMENT &HUMAN HEALTH, INC. (2004): 1-117. Web. 7 Dec 2010. <http://www.ehhi.org/reports/obesity/obesity_report04.pdf>.

Cawley, John. "Not Your Father’s PE: Obesity, Exercise, and the Role of Schools ." Hoover Institution (2006): n. pag. Web. 7 Dec 2010. <http://www.mindfully.org/Health/2006/Obesity-Exercise-Schools20sep06.htm>.

Challem, Jack. "Fructose: Friend or Foe?." DLife (2010): n. pag. Web. 7 Dec 2010. <http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/information/food_and_nutrition/fructose_friend_or_foe.html?s_kwcid=high%2520fructose%2520corn%2520syrup|2016633533&gclid=COHBz_SYzqUCFU465Qod0xJFlQ>.

"Childhood Obesity." Robert Woods Johnson Foundation (2007): n. pag. Web. 8 Dec 2010. <http://www.rwjf.org/files/publications/annual/2007/yir/childhood-obesity.html>.

Claire , Baits. "Children who walk to school 'are less stressed in exams' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1302082/Children-walk-school-stressed-exams.html#ixzz17ZguTnX6." Mail Online (2010): n. pag. Web. 8 Dec 2010. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1302082/Children-walk-school-stressed-exams.html>.

Flanagan, Ryan. "New project to get kids walking to school ." Thompson Citizen(2010): n. pag. Web. 8 Dec 2010. http://www.thompsoncitizen.net/article/20101020/THOMPSON0101/310209745/-1/thompson/new-project-to-get-kids-walking-to-school

"Fresh or Frozen Food: Which is Best? ." Kids and Nutrition (2010): n. pag. Web. 8 Dec 2010. <http://www.kidsandnutrition.co.uk/fresh-frozen-food-which-best.html>.

Leslie, Heller. "Obesity in Our Schools." City of St. Louis Department of Health, (2008): 27. Web. 7 Dec 2010. <

http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/health/nutrition/powerpoints/ObesityInOurSchools.pdf"

Holtreman, Vic. "Review: Supersize Me." ScreenRant(2004): n. pag. Web. 8 Dec 2010. <http://screenrant.com/review-super-size-me-vic-204/>.

Paige, Brady. "Apply for a Free School Salad Bar ."Whole Story (2010): n. pag. Web. 8 Dec 2010. <http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2010/09/apply-for-a-free-school-salad-bar/>.

Parker, Hilary. "A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain ." Princeton University (2010): n. pag. Web. 8 Dec 2010. <http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/2

PUGLIESE, GERALD. "Kids Not Walking to School."DiseaseProof (2007): n. pag. Web. 8 Dec 2010. <http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-parenting-kids-not-walking-to-school.html>.

SuperSize Me Health in Schools ." Supersize Me . Youtube: 09 Oct 2009. Web.   7 Dec 2010.  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVErU0eJAWU&feature=related>.

University of Michigan. "Why Don't Kids Walk To School Anymore?." ScienceDaily 28 March 2008. 8 December 2010 <http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2008/03/080326161643.htm>.