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Our friend and Strong Women partner Dr. Miriam Nelson recently wrote her observations about the decline in life expectancy among our children, because of their growing overweight and obesity rates. Here, in her Strong Women newsletter, Dr. Nelson addresses the issue.
LIFE EXPECTANCY EXPECTED TO DECLINE!
There has been a slow but steady rise in life expectancy over the past thousand years. While there have been some short down turns over the past millennium due to world wars, famines, and infectious diseases, it has been continuing to go up for the past two centuries. Now, there is some alarming news that our children may not reap the benefits of the advances made in medicine, hygiene, and nutrition.
A new study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine describes some alarming trends. The average life expectancy of adults today is approximately 77 years.
Obesity rates have risen so fast – approximately 50 percent per decade for the past two decades – that the related increased risk of premature death due to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, and other complications may bring this robust number down.
Using statistical modeling of existing national data sets, the investigators project that because of obesity, our children may live two to five years less than our generation.
The statistical modeling even took into account recent advances in technology and medications that will help many prolong the end of life. The balance still points to a negative impact of obesity related premature deaths on life expectancy.
While these results are startling, there is much work underway to help counteract the trend. It may take a decade or two, but I believe if policy makers, companies, scientists, communities, and individuals work together we can reduce obesity rates. This isn’t going to be easy, but it is necessary. We all owe it to our children.
Lifting women to better health,
Miriam E. Nelson, Ph.D.
(References: S. Olshansky and colleagues. A potential decline in life expectancy in the United States in the 21st Century. Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 352(11), 1138-1145, March 2005.
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We all know that health research and findings seem to come and go and change with the wind. But a recent review of studies seems to confirm and re-confirm something we've all known in our hearts--eating breakfast is good for kids! After looking at 47 (yes, 47!) nutrition studies, experts learned that kids have better school attendence and better mental function if they eat breakfast. Those two factors are pretty important, but with the additional finding that kids who ate breakfast are less likely to be overweight than those who skipped breakfast---well, what are we waiting for? Breakfast should be mandatory!
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All over the country, parents, teachers and school officials struggle to get rid of junk food in their public schools in an effort to slow the progress of a nationwide epidemic of childhood obesity. They grapple with varying state laws, local control issues, and unbreakable contracts with soda and food companies. Yet, a group of advocates say the means of getting this food out of the schools is already at our disposal, in existing federal regulations from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Gary Ruskin is Commercial Alert, an Oregon-based group that has petitioned the USDA to enforce its rules. The USDA’s response is, apparently, that the rules only allow certain narrowly defined foods to be banned in school cafeterias, such as hard candy, gum and flavored ices, and that the federal agency has no authority over what is sold in vending machines. The advocates say the agency could enforce a broader application of the rules.
"It is outrageous that the USDA is refusing to enforce its own rules against selling junk food in public schools," Ruskin said. "They have turned their back on American children, who are suffering from an epidemic of obesity."
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The folks who produce a spray, Neosporin, for childhood cuts have done a survey that shows 50 percent of mothers say their children are outside less than five hours per week. The reasons for this lack of fresh air include kids being overscheduled in other structured activities and moms worrying about their children getting hurt. The company has produced a list of Fifty Ways to Play, to encourage families to get outside and do physical activity more often. A recent survey shows that parents and kids alike feel that children should play outside more often, but most youngsters spend more time indoors than outdoors.
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Up in Alaska, they’re about to adopt strict nutritional standards for any food sold in schools besides those provided by the federal meals program. Mat-Su School District officials approved the plan in early June and expect to implement the changes by fall. Any foods high in sugar and fat will be replaced by healthy alternatives. We tip our lids to the Mat-Su School District in Alaska!
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A myriad of nonprofits and government groups are trying out programs to increase physical activity among the children of Massachusetts. Several of the YMCAs, with help from state grants, are undertaking fitness and nutrition programs targeted at adolescents. One hospital has made fitness and obesity priority community issues for 2005. Teachers and the state legislature continue to debate adding a physical education requirement in the public schools. As one elementary Phys. Ed. teacher pointed out, "Sometimes we have the kids jog in class, and it only takes a minute or two before a lot of them are out of breath and have to walk."
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Children eat what’s put in front of them. Sounds kind of basic, doesn’t it? But the results of a new study show that children won’t necessarily eat less at the next meal if they’ve eaten snacks beforehand, and they won’t eat a smaller supper just because they’ve had a huge lunch. Or, put another way, the researchers at Cornell University had this to say:
“We found that the more food children are served, the more they eat, regardless of what they've eaten previously in the day, including how big their breakfast was," says researcher David Levitsky, professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University, in a news release. "We also found that the more snacks children are offered, the greater their total daily food and calorie intake."
The study results appear in the June issue of Appetite magazine. Researchers say it has huge implications for how parents view and try to curb their child’s eating habits.
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Once soda and candy get into the public schools, it’s nearly impossible to get them out. That’s the position of one New York Times editorialist after reviewing Connecticut’s failure to ban soft drinks a few weeks ago. While Connecticut failed to pass a ban, the state of New Jersey did accomplish one this past spring. The New York Times writer credits the fact that New Jersey’s rules were written by bureaucrats working within state departments, rather than by politicians who are buffeted about by partisan politics and lobbyists. Did your school or school district accomplish any curbs on junk food over this past school year? Use the comment box below to tell us your story.
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Pepsi, Sesame Street, Sony Play Station……and Stonyfield? Yes, Stonyfield earlier this month joined some of the biggest names in the world of kids marketing to discuss our healthy vending program, as part of “Environmental Solutions to Childhood Obesity” – a national conference in Washington, DC sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, part of the National Institute for Health (NIH).
Over 700 people in the crowd watched a tape about our healthy vending rogram. Cathleen Toomey, our VP of communications, described our program today. The Pepsi and Sony people took very challenging questions from the crowd, and Big Bird admitted that he had to re-think some of his sponsorship agreements considering the problem of childhood obesity. The important point, of course, is that all these companies are at the table talking about new solutions to deal with the issues. We were proud to be participating!
The conference was opened by Lynn Swann, Chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness (and winner of quite a few Super Bowls in his time) and Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, U.S. Surgeon General, who was a terrific speaker. The conference was closed with a terrific talk by Gov. Mike Huckabee from Arkansas, who shared the story of his personal 100 pound weight loss.
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The parents liked it. The nutritionists liked it. Pediatricians liked it. The House and the Senate liked it. But the governor and the soda pop lobbyists didn't like it. So the governor vetoed it.
Earlier this spring, the Connecticut legislature was well on its way to passing one of the more far-reaching pieces of legislation aimed at getting junk foods out of schools and better foods into kids. On Tuesday this week, CT Gov. M. Jodi Rell said, "No."
The legislation restricted the sale of certain snack foods and beverages in all of the state's public schools. It would also have required a minimum of 100 minutes a week of recess for younger students. The governor said, "No."
Governor Rell said such legislation would have "usurp[ed] the longstanding authority of our local school districts," and "undermine[d] the control and responsibility of parents with school-aged children."
The governor would like to see some "guidelines" adopted by the state's Department of Education. She worried, apparently, that more recess would mean less reading, math, and science.
One advocacy group, End Hunger Connecticut, said a recent poll had shown parents were in favor of the legislation. Pediatricians had also offered their support.
Critics say the governor was swayed by lobbyists for the soda and other junk food companies, which latched onto the "local control" issue. School district administrators and school boards also didn't care for the idea. In Board Buzz, they criticized the proposed legislation because it took up too much time in the legilsature, calling it "potato chip regulations."
We vote them all two spoons down!
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An “obesity outbreak” is being studied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the first time in history. The federal government agency sent a team of researchers to West Virginia to figure out why 27.6 percent of its residents are obese, compared to 20.4 percent of the U.S. population as a whole, ranking it the third largest state in the nation. West Virginia also has the nation’s fourth highest rate of diabetes and is ranked No. 1 in high blood pressure. The data from the study are being analyzed and preliminary information may be available in August. In gathering the data, researchers went to schools, restaurants, grocery stores, and workplaces, and looked at the availability of healthy food and safe places to exercise. Some have criticized the agency, saying that government funds should not be used in this way. Are you concerned about that?
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Up in St. John’s, Canada, health-related advocacy groups are hoping to influence school food with recommendations for healthy food and more exercise for children, in a neck of the woods where one in four pre-school children is overweight. The coalition includes dietitians, physicians, nurses, social workers and other professionals. They want schools to "only offer health food and beverage choices" in cafeterias and vending machines and at least 30 minutes daily exercise. The group hopes to encourage schools to overhaul their menus and programs, involving students along the way. They hope a healthier policy is in place by fall.
Now that the school year draws to close, we'd love to hear about anything your school or school district may have done this past year to help curb childhood obesity. Were new policies passed? A new exercise program implemented? Junk foods banned or vending machines changed over? At least a discussion begun? Send your stories to chalvorson@stonyfield.com and we'll include them here in future entries to Creating Healthy Kids.
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Read about Stonyfield Farm's efforts to Change the Menu in our nation's schools.
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Researchers have come up with a list of eight things parents and caregivers can look for in a child that may indicate the child's risk of becoming obese. They are
• too much television
• not enough sleep
• high birth weight
• early size
• rapid weight gain
• quick growth in years one and two
• early body fat
• having obese parents.
Obviously, once parents are aware of the signs, they can take steps toward prevention.
“We shouldn’t be complacent about the lifestyles of our children,” said Dr. John Reilly, an expert on child obesity at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. “What our study is showing is that although there are early growth risk factors, there are also a number of risk factors that relate to lifestyle, of three-year-olds and probably earlier, that seem to make a difference.”
The findings were published recently in the online British Medical Journal.
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Once upon a time, in a different eating era, kids got pizza at Friday night slumber parties, soda pop on the occasional school field trip, and French fries only when they stopped at diners on cross-country family vacations. (Or, was that just me?)
Well, no more! Today, one third of a child’s daily calorie consumption comes from such snacky foods, meaning they are a common component of the average American kid's daily diet, according to a new article based on the Dietary Intervention Study for Children.
One researcher on the study suggests that, since these foods are really big hits with children, rather than banning them outright, we oughtta figure out how to make them more nutritious. The same study also showed that families which received nutritional training and were studied over three years were able to reduce their intake of some of the worst offending foods, in terms of fat content, but did not increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables. One hypothesis is that access to these foods is a challenge for some families, so families turn to cooking and serving what is available and easiest, often not the healthiest.
Do you try to limit your child's consumption of pizza, fries and soda? Write us with your comments below and/or use the polling form.
ABOUT CREATING HEALTHY KIDS
Read about Stonyfield Farm's efforts to Change the Menu in our nation's schools.
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Sounds like a fine sentiment for U.S. public schools, doesn’t it? Well, the quote in our title today actually refers to schools in Great Britain, where renewed energy is being spent on looking at school food. James Oliver, a high-profile chef, made school food his crusade and, in a public awareness campaign, pointed out the overall low quality of it along the way. Now officials are starting to take heed, promising more funds for school lunches and an effort to draft a set of nutrition standards. The new rules will aim to cut the amount of salt, sugar and fat in school meals and put more fresh fruit and vegetables on the menu.
"Officials will be reviewing a Scotland program, Hungry for Success, which has removed vending machines from school dining areas. Standards for school food should be the best we can do, not the most we can get away with."
Ah, would that it were so here in the good ol’ USA. Meanwhile, a group in the U.K. is striving to give people who are obese a virtual place, called Big Matters, where they can come to for help, recipes, fitness tips and more.
ABOUT CREATING HEALTHY KIDS
Read about Stonyfield Farm's efforts to Change the Menu in our nation's schools.
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One school district in Illinois is undertaking some preventative measures aimed at combating childhood obesity in their region. The new project includes fitness-focused curriculum and technology in the Bloomington-Normal schools and focuses on building strength, not competitive athletics. Students use tools to develop cardiovascular fitness and strength goals, including exercise equipment and software for tracking their progress. They hope to add things such as pedometers, heart monitors, exercise equipment and classroom supplies as soon as funddraising efforts there are successful. We tip our lids to the Bloomington-Normal school district!
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In Kentucky, a small group of parents thought it may be just a tad bit inappropriate for the restaurant chain, Hooters, notorious for its employment preference for large-breasted women, to sponsor the local baseball team of 8-year-old boys. Team organizers pointed out to the disgruntled parents that the shirts were already printed and, by the way, it's hard to find corporate sponsors. Ahem.
Does this bother you? Would you let your son play on the Hooters team? How about for a team sponsored by a liquor store? Or R.J. Reynolds?
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We're proud to say we've teamed up with Meatless Monday, a national public health initiative to prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer - four of the leading causes of death in America. The campaign tries to encourage Americans--including our children--to cut back on meat consumption for one day a week. Reducing one's intake of meat can be a great way to reduce fat intake. The Meatless Monday goal is to reduce consumption of saturated fat by at least 15 percent by 2010.
This week the Meatless Monday website is focusing on the healthful benefits of eating dairy--a topic near and dear to our hearts, but not just because we sell yogurt. Eating dairy packs a nutritional punch, according to folks at The Mayo Clinic. Their advice:
Look for low-fat, fat-free or reduced-fat alternatives. Choose skim milk over whole milk, and low-fat or fat-free sour cream over full-fat sour cream. Read package labels carefully. Look for the grams of total fat and saturated fat per serving when you compare similar products.
Check out all the dairy recipes and other tips offered at Meatless Mondays, and take note that you can enter Stonyfield's Cooking contest from the Meatless Monday homepage.
The rest of the week, heed this advice to control your risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes:
• Eat lean meats and choose low-fat dairy products.
• Enjoy fruits and vegetables 5 to 9 servings a day.
• Don't smoke and stay clear of people who do.
• Exercise at least 30 minutes almost every day.
*****
Meatless Monday is a nonprofit organization working in association with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Twenty-eight other public health schools are also supporting the campaign, including Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health.
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Ah, June...and state legislatures throughout the land are, or aren't, wrapping up law writing sessions. Many of them, this year, looked to the state of Arkansas for inspiration. There, schools are required to measure the Body Mass Index of their students--much like hearing, sight, and scoleosis testing--and send those results home to the parents, with resource information on how to control weight and learn good nutrition. Now other states are following suit, but plenty of people don't like it.
In one editorial from Tennesee, the writer suggests this is a bad idea. "As if school weren't hard enough already," she writes.
Her reasons?:
Most parents already know, based on doctor visits or observation, if their child has a weight problem.
...a self-esteem-eroding preoccupation with weight is no healthier for children than obesity itself
...the public schools would be overstepping their bounds; they are paid by taxpayers to teach children to read and write, not to monitor their weight.And this:
What used to be a personal medical matter has become a matter of public morality; you can almost hear a faint chorus of tsk-tsks anytime you set foot in a Ben and Jerry’s or Krispy Kreme store
A similar proposal in Texas has already failed.
Is it wrong to require BMI or other weight measurement of school kids? Would you object to such a thing if your schools mandated it? Write us with your comments below, or fill out the poll box.
You can check up on your own state and the status of legislation related to childhood obesity at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
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Okay, if you've tried everything else to get your children to get up off the couch and stop watching so much tv, maybe you can just give in and let them watch-as long as they're moving. An engineering and design student in London has developed a pedometer type thing that, in essence, requires movement for the wearer to "earn" television time. The more steps taken, the longer the television will run. When steps run out, the television goes blank! The device's designer says she's aiming to get girls to take 12,000 steps and boys 15,000 steps in a day--a bit higher than what a lot of adults are now trying to achieve, but very doable. If the child hits the target, 2 hours of television are awarded. A special device turns the television off after 2 hours. No word on when this device will be mass-marketed.
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