Panel Urges Junk Food Ban In Schools

(WebMD)  Vending machines and snack bars selling sodas, candy, and high-fat foods like potato chips should be banned from public schools, according to standards recommended Wednesday by the Institute of Medicine.

The group's report, commissioned by Congress, says schools should adopt common standards limiting food sales to fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, and whole-grain snacks. The standards would also limit portion size and the calorie, sodium, added sugar, and fat content of food sold to kids.

Federal standards already regulate the nutrition content of school lunches served from cafeteria kitchens. But the government maintains only very loose rules for food sold at a la carte snack bars as well as snack and beverage machines.

The report's authors said their recommendations were meant to both promote healthy eating and to displace the junk food currently on sale in vending machines and snack bars at many American schools.

They also said the report should be a help as the nation struggles to find answers to rising rates of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents.

"Because foods and beverages available on the school campus make up a substantial proportion of the daily calorie intake, they should contribute to a healthy environment," says Virginia A. Stallings, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and chairwoman of the panel that wrote the report.

The recommendations would also ban high-sugar sports drinks from elementary and middle schools. Those drinks, along with some snack foods including baked potato chips and pretzels, would be allowed in high schools, but only during limited times after class hours, the report states.

Some states, including California, have passed laws limiting junk food sales in schools. But many others have not. Individual school districts are mandated by law to come up with student body nutrition plans, but the plans range widely in quality and depth, experts say.

The IOM's committee members said a single standard, whether adopted by Congress or by administrative regulation, is required.

"There is such a huge variety in levels of commitment to nutrition standards," says Rosemary Dederichs, a panel member who is also director of the food services department at the University of Minnesota.

Voluntary Pledges by Industry

Major snack food and beverage companies recently launched voluntary pledges to limit junk food sales in public schools. Wednesday's recommendations are lightly more strict in that they urge limits to portion sizes and other actors not included in the industry pledges.

In a statement, Alison Kretser, senior director of nutrition and health Policy for the Grocery Manufacturers of America, said the IOM report shines an important spotlight" on childhood obesity. But the report ignores the tremendous progress that has been made in recent years in mproving the school food environment — changes that were developed as the result of dialogue and collaboration between the food industry, educators, parents, and health groups," she said.

The recommendations cannot be enforced unless government entities — most
likely Congress — step in to enact them.

Lawmakers favoring federal nutrition standards for all school food said
Wednesday's report would bolster their cause.

"Voluntary guidelines were a good first step," Sen. Tom Harkin,
D-Iowa, told reporters.

"The health of our children is too important to leave to unenforceable
voluntary guidelines," said Harkin, who chairs the Senate Agriculture
Committee. The panel has jurisdiction over school nutrition programs.

By Todd Zwillich
Reviewed by Louise Chang
©2006-2007 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved

[anndoty]

Once again, we really need the parents to step up. Unfortunately, this has been the story for too long in regard to drugs, food and everything else parents are supposed to teach, but don't. Oh yeah, eating the cafeteria food is no less fattening than the vending machine food. I am amazed at what they offer my, not overweight, middle school daughter.

[cmp271]

Vending machines for candy and soda should have been banned years ago and never allowed on campus. It is through marketing and business these things even got through. What benefits did the school get from allowing these machines, such as Pepsi or coke sponsored events or grants.

Our kids will suffer years ahead for their unhealthy choices. Parents grew up on this that is why the kids don't know any better. Blame the now Grandparents for the rise of fast food in this country that contributes to Americans being so fat. And wanting everything Right Now!
I saw the rise of Mcdonalds and Burger King and Pizza Hut, and how people gained weight from it. It is expensive and it is cheaper to home cook a meal.

[erik2590]

Well, ordinarily I am against Big Brother dictating lifestyles. However, I think in the schools, it is probably the least thing we can do to educate the children if the parents are not willing (majority, unfortunately).

[afmca]

The food Gestapo are at it again. I really doubt that most kids get a huge amount of caloric intake from school snacks. First most kids don't have enough time to eat that much during their miniscule lunch break and second it costs a fortune to feed those machines to get enough food out of them.

Obesity is a problem but IT STARTS AT HOME. Giving a kid an apple in school and then 4 cheeseburgers at home from McDonalds is not going to correct either their eating habits or their weight problem. Why do children whose parents that make sure they eat mostly healthy foods and stay active in sports and other activities always penalized by those that what society to enforce common sense instead of the parents?

[rf35]

STEP AWAY FROM THE SNACK MACHINE, LARD-BUTT!

I think removal of the junk food is a positive step, but I also agree with LoneStartNow that better nutritional education will do more in the long run to curb the wieght problems. Unfortunately, most of the problems start at home. I was overweight as a child and into my teen years. The reason was not my school diet, but my home diet. I was always being fed high fat, high cholesterol, high calorie foods at home. It took a real effort to break years of conditioning and change to a more reasonable diet. My mother was blessed with a high metabolism, so she never gained an ounce. I got my father's slower metabolism, though, so I packed on the pounds for years growing up. I'm now back to a healthy size, but it was tough. What I'm really saying here is that parents need to take as much responsibility (if not more) than the schools for overweight kids and take steps to prevent the problem from continuing or growing worse. Get educated on proper nutrition themselves and express their concern by making healthy food choices for the whole family.

[rohink-2009]

"The health of our children is too important to leave to unenforceable
voluntary guidelines," said Harkin, who chairs the Senate Agriculture
Committee. The panel has jurisdiction over school nutrition programs."

I would be very concerned by this statement. In a "free society" things should be voluntary, not enforced by the federal government.

More and more I see the word BAN everywhere. People should be concerned. Where does it stop. That being said, I don't think they need snack and soda machines in schools, they didn't have them when I went

[ibogans]

yes i think all vending and snack machines should be taken out of all schools. in my days there where not any. they shoul eat what they bring from home, or what is served in the cafeteria.

[lonestartnow]

Nutritional education about why these junk foods are bad for you, and what they do to you now and in the long run would be wise. Just taking away the junk snacks and foods encourages kids to bring them from home or get them elsewhere. They need to understand why these choices are harmful.