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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.
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.
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.
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/