May 18, 2008 - May 24, 2008 Archives

Even though they are a little behind the ball, Hawaii’s education and health officials should be applauded for developing a fairly aggressive stance toward what constitutes healthy food and adequate exercise in public schools.

This is, after all, the state that boasts the highest consumption of Spam in the country, and we’re not talking per-capita. A glorious and welcoming cluster of islands, Hawaii’s list of delicacies and local favorites are endless--- and unfortunately many of them are deep-fried, full of sugar, or high in fat. But they taste good!

But it hasn’t been good for the waistlines of Hawaiian residents, particularly its children, who, according to the 2003-2004 National Survey of Children’s Health, ranked 29th out of the 50 states, with 13.3 percents of kids considered overweight or obese. The District of Columbia had the heaviest kids, with 22.8 percent of children possessing above average body mass indexes.

The new guidelines created by Hawaii’s education and health departments requires students to exercise at least 20 minutes per day and for foods (except produce or nuts) that are sold on campuses to contain less than 8 grams of fat, 200 calories per serving, and more than 2 grams per fiber.

The changes must be implemented in each school by 2011, which will be just enough time for kids to get used to oatmeal for breakfast instead of malasadas and brown rice and stir fry for lunch instead of Spam musubi.

Hopefully, I’m not kidding myself here. Even though kids will get their high-fat fix off-campus, at least they won’t be eating it at school.

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor

I wish we could say that ASBJ got the scoop, but it’s actually a good thing that child nutrition and the obesity epidemic are hot topics.

Just as we ASBJ editors were admiring our hot-off-the-presses June issue, which examines the challenges of running food services programs in schools, the Washington Post came out with a week-long investigative series on the childhood obesity crisis that’s truly a must-read.

Several of the articles criticize schools for not offering healthier options in their cafeterias and vending machines and for relying on contracts with soft-drink companies and vending operators for supplemental funds.

But the series also looks at the crisis through the perspective of pediatricians and health care providers, who are seeing big increases in the number of cases of high blood pressure, gallstones, displaced joints, and diabetes in overweight children. If you have any questions on how excess fat destroys organs, from the brain to the pancreas, here’s a handy chart.

We don’t yet have a grasp on what this will cost the nation in terms of health care dollars or lives cut short. Simply put, the generation of kids in your schools today may be the first that will not live as long as their parents’ and grandparents’ generations. Instances of Type 2 diabetes—once an extremely rare affliction for children—are rapidly increasing, according to the report, and one doctor notes that patients often only live about 20 years after their diagnosis. So without a major medical breakthrough, the teenagers now being diagnosed with the disease may not live past their mid-30’s.

While low-income children remain most at risk because they often don’t have access to healthy foods, the issue is also evident in affluent suburban areas, where parents rely on fast food and quick options when they don’t have time to cook. Hispanic children are considered the most at-risk subgroup.

Schools play a critical role in helping to curb this crisis by offering only healthy foods in their cafeterias and vending machines, and educating students and their parents on the risks of obesity. Of course, given the rising costs of food and budget shortfalls, this is becoming a bigger challenge. But once you’ve read the heart-wrenching stories in the Post, check out this month’s ASBJ for some advice on how your schools’ food services can help reverse the trend.

Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor

Twenty years from now, will your schools be conducting urine tests on kids before they sit down to take their standardized tests?

Today, it's a bizarre thought. But, then again, when you were a high school student, did you ever image teenage athletes taking steroids? Or that high school sports would become so competitive that any student would consider such a reckless pursuit?

But that's the 21st century for you. The coming years hold a lot of promise, but school leaders also are going to confront some unforeseen—and, frankly, disturbing—issues.

And one of those is going to be the misuse of drugs to enhance brain function -- so-called “cognition enhancers.”

It used to be so simple. When I was in college, the only drug-enhanced learning I observed consisted of the unhealthy but relatively benign practice of college students stoking up on caffeine the night before a semester-end exam. Some students seemed to think an overdose of nicotine couldn’t hurt, either.

Today's students, however, are beginning to tap the miracles of modern medicine. There's anecdotal evidence that some college students are using Ritalin, a drug designed to treat attention deficit disorder (ADD), to help them with last-minute cramming for exams, reports the Center for Substance Abuse Research at the University of Maryland. And many of you already have heard talk of high school students turning to the drug.

That's dangerous and irresponsible, but that's never stopped young people. And it could get more serious. In Great Britain, the Academy of Medical Science recently warned that young people have taken note of the growing list of pharmaceutical drugs designed to treat ADD, Alzheimer’s, and day-time sleepiness. And, as BBC News has noted, these drugs are “being used by otherwise healthy people to boost alertness and memory.”

Some experts suggest the misuse of these drugs is only going to increase—and could become serious enough that urine tests will be needed to prevent students from “gaining an unfair advantage on exams and tests,” BBC News has reported.

Noted neuroscience expert Sir Gabriel Horn at Cambridge University added the obvious, “We see similarities in the future use of cognition enhancers with the current use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports.”

And it’s only the first decade of the 21st century. What's next? I don’t know, but I need an aspirin.

Del Stover, Senior Editor

I had horrible eating habits as a teenager; routinely skipping breakfast and rarely eating lunch. So the few times I did venture through the school’s cafeteria line, I grabbed (you guessed it) a slice of pizza or an order of french fries. Aren’t they part of the four food groups?

School food programs have come a long way since then, though in some ways, they’ve remained the same. Meant to be self-sustaining operations, food services have found it harder and harder to turn a profit, let alone break even, as the cost of food, fuel, and labor continues to rise, while the expectations for what they provide continue to expand.

Hence, pizza and french fries can still be found on the menus of just about every school in America, despite federal mandates and local desire to serve more nutritious fare because, let’s face it, that stuff sells. To their credit (and to the credit of food vendors), districts modify the fast food items: low-fat cheeses typically top whole grain crusts and french fries are baked, never fried.

Oh the sleight-of-hand and the clever machinations food service departments must perform in order to appease so many interests, not the least of which is their customer’s belly. For more on the complexities, challenges, and future of the school district food program, read the cover package in our June edition of ASBJ, which is now available online.

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor