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Are Junk Food Sales in U.S.

schools Responsible for Childhood


Obesity?
By jennifervanhook | Published: May 21, 2012

Between the early 1970s and late 2000s, the percentage of obese children in
the United States tripled. This trend is often attributed to the types and
amounts of foods and drinks available to children, including those offered for
sale in schools. Currently, the vast majority of middle schools sell
competitive foods to students through one or more venue including vending
machines, school stores, canteens or a la carte in the cafeteria. Competitive
foods are sold in competition with the National School Lunch and National
School Breakfast Program, and often include items such as soft drinks, juice,
candy bars, potato chips, cookies and doughnuts.

In response to the childhood obesity epidemic, childrens health advocates


have pressured schools to eliminate vending machines or restrict the
placement, contents, and access children have to vending machines and
competitive foods. However, our research along with an lot of other peoples
research suggests thatat least for middle school studentsthis strategy is
unlikely to have much impact.

The study I conducted with my PhD student, Claire E. Altman, finds that
weight gain has nothing to do with the candy, soda, chips, and other junk
food they can purchase at school. We used data from the Early Childhood
Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999, which follows a
nationally representative sample of students from the fall of kindergarten
through the spring of eighth grade. This was a time during which school
districts were just starting to remove vending machines and snack foods
from schools. The strength of our research was that we had access to a very
large sample of children (19,450) and we were able to follow children over
time as they progressed from fifth to eighth grade. This enabled us to
determine how much children gained weight during early adolescence, and
whether weight gain depended on the type foods sold in their schools. Most
studies on this topic examine children at only one point in time (e.g.,
8th grade only) and are therefore unable to tell whether children become
overweight by attending schools that sell junk food, or whether heavier
children are just more likely to attend such schools in the first place.

We found that 59.2 percent of fifth graders and 86.3 percent of eighth
graders in their study attended schools that sold junk food. But, while there
was a significant increase in the percentage of students who attended
schools that sold junk food between fifth and eighth grades, there was no
rise in the percentage of students who were overweight or obese. In fact,
despite the increased availability of junk food, the percentage of students
who were overweight or obese actually decreased slightly from fifth grade to
eighth grade. Additionally, we found no difference in weight gain between
children attending a school that sold junk food and other children.

This seems to defy common sense. After all, we all know that children who
eat junk food and soda are more likely to gain weight. But to understand
what is going on, we need to take into consideration all of the places where
children eat. Schools only represent a portion of childrens food environment.
Children can get food at home and their neighborhoods, and many children
can walk down the street from the school to buy food. Additionally, children
are actually very busy at school, so there isnt much opportunity for them to
eat while theyre in school, or at least snack endlessly, compared to when
theyre at home. School days are scheduled from beginning to end,
including time spent eating. This differs considerably from home
environments, where mealtimes are less regular, eating blends with other
activities such as TV viewing, opportunities for snacking are greater, and
food consumption is less closely monitored, especially for children staying
home alone. This is backed up by other research showing that children
actually gain more weight during the summer months than during the school
year. All of this suggests that school environments may actually be
protective against obesity compared to homes and neighborhoods.

It is also important to take into account childrens development. Childrens


food preferences and eating habits are firmly established early in life, so
middle school environment may not matter as much. Early childhood
experiences and home environments have profound effects on childrens
dietary patterns. For example, some research suggests that children can
lose the ability to self-regulate food consumption (and stop eating when full)
in early childhood, largely as a consequence of child feeding practices. This
suggests that when it comes to combating childhood obesity and weight
issues, policymakers should put more emphasis on younger children.

What does this mean for educators today? Most important, it suggests that
the childhood obesity problem cannot be placed solely in the hands of
schools. A coordinated response among educators, health care workers,
parents, businesses, and government is probably required. This message
may come as a disappointment to those hoping for an easy solution. After
all, schools seem to be natural places in which to enact cost-effective
interventions on children. But disappointingly, schools do not seem to be
effective in drastically changing a students weight, and the elimination of
junk food sales in schools is unlikely to make much of a dent in the child
obesity epidemic. The challenge is to develop interventions that reach into
the home and community. Perhaps those interventions can start with
schools, but they must reach beyond them to be effective.

Written by Jennifer Van Hook


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3523788/

Increasing trend of Junk food use in Saudi Arabia and health


implications
Dr. Zahid Naeem

Int J Health Sci (Qassim). 2012 Jan; 6(1): VVI.

Junk food, fast food and trash food are all definitions of a quick, unhealthy,
hunger satisfying food, which are easy to make and easy to consume. They
are low in nutritional value with a high caloric value. The term Junk food
was coined by Michael Jacobson, director of Center for Science in 1972. Junk
food contains high level of refined sugar, white flour, polyunsaturated fats,
salts and numerous food additives but lacking in protein, vitamin and fibers.
Junk food is popular because of their simplicity of manufacture, consumption
and good taste.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-27/rooney-school-junk-food/5220782

http://www.socialsciencespace.com/2012/05/are-junk-food-sales-in-u-s-
schools-responsible-for-childhood-obesity/

Implementing strong nutrition standards in schools is an important


component of
comprehensive school health reform. Changes to nutrition standards are
often
challenging to adopt due to concerns about negative impacts on school profi
ts
and fundraising. Yet, as is shown by this study, some districts across the
country
have implemented stronger nutrition standards without a signifi cant
negative
fi nancial impact.
Ban Junk Food From Schools!
By BestWritingByBrit, Livingston, NJ

More by this author

Email me when BestWritingByBrit contributes work

Junk Food Should be Banned from Schools


Ew... Do you know how many calories are in a single chocolate chip cookie? I bet most
people have no clue. There are 170 calories in just one cookie, according to Dunkin Donuts
nutrition catalog. Whether junk food should be allowed in schools or not is a huge focus on
the U.S. government. Should mandatory restrictions be put into place to keep students from
eating junk food at school, or are such restrictions unnecessary? This is the question we are
faced with today. Junk food should definitely be banned from school for numerous reasons.
The prohibition of junk food will benefit everyone as it will be one less thing the world needs
to worry about.
First of all, junk food leads to many weight and health related problems. For example,
cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and chronic health conditions
are only some of the diseases you can get from eating junk food. In addition, the level of
obesity is rising rapidly among kids and adolescents. According to researchers at Harvard
University, By the year 2050, the rate of obesity in the U.S. for kids is expected to reach
42%. This shows that in the future, many children will become overweight, which will lead
to way too many problems. Our country has the highest rate of obesity, and we are the
fattest nation in the world, says debate.org. If we dont watch our diet carefully, we might
even become the dumbest nation in the world because eating too much of it will damage
your health, therefore damaging your learning habits, as studies have shown. So, junk food
can be so destructing towards your well-being and makes people very overweight.
Furthermore, junk food has little to no nutritional value, and we need to teach children
about eating healthy. First, school is where children spend most of their time. Therefore,
school should be the place where children learn the right nutritious things. According to
Issues and Controversies, In 2003 and 2004, 19% of children ages 6-11 were overweight,
and 17% of children ages 12-19 were too. This is because schools dont teach children
what they should be really eating in their diet! This shows that many children were obese,
but that was 10 years ago. Think about how the numbers would change today! The numbers
would shoot up faster than a blink. In addition, Only 21% of youth ages 6-19 eat the
recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day, according to
preventioninstitute.com. In other words, barely anyone gets the nutrition they need! This
clearly shows us that we need to teach children what the food labels really mean. Also,
there are excessive levels of sugar, salt, fat, and calories in junk food. As you can see, junk
food is very unhealthy since there are few vitamins and minerals in it.
As the final point, junk food can be really addicting. For instance, one small, 2.1-ounce bag
of Nacho Cheese Doritos contains about 25 chips and 17 grams of fat, which is more than
some 8-ounce steaks have! According to Junior Scholastic, When fat-filled snacks melt
quickly, your brain doesnt receive a message about the calories, so you just keep on
eating. This results in more cravings of junk food and sweets. Moreover, junk food activates
the same areas in the brain as drugs of abuse such as cocaine and can lead to similar
symptoms, says junk food expert Kris Gunnars Everybody knows that cocaine is so hard to
stop once you tried it. What if this happened to anyone who ate junk food? This is why junk
food should be banned before anyone goes crazy. Soon, there will not only be drug addicts,
but also junk food addicts! To prevent this from happening, junk food needs to be abolished
because it can cause obsession over nothing.
The idea to keep junk food deserves some merit. But, banning it from schools is actually the
way to go. Some people may think that selling it can give schools money. On the other
hand, schools should not compromise students health just for money! What is more
important, health, or money? Further, I understand why people may think that students
should be able to make their own decisions on what they eat. However, their parents are
usually the ones that control what they consume. Lastly, other people may argue that
schools are already teaching children about eating healthy in health class. But, are they
really? If schools really are, then why are they still selling so much junk food? That is
hypocritical. As you can see, there are way more pros of banning junk food from schools
than cons.
Without a doubt, schools need to eliminate junk food out of their sight. There are abundant
health problems that go with eating too much junk food, firstly. Second of all, there is little
or no nutritional value to junk food, and it is so necessary to teach children about healthy
eating habits. Finally, junk food addicts people like videogames and drugs. Junk food is the
nicotine! We do not need that in school systems! Junk food has no benefits and is not
needed. If we want children to stay healthy and alive, get rid of these killer foods! We need
to stop junk food from controlling the lives of people!

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