Leave no calories behind.
September 17, 2004

For years, many school administrators, hard pressed to find extra funds to finance student activities and supplement needed classroom supplies, have allowed the installation of vending machines which dispense soft drinks, candy and a variety of junk foods.

The machines may well be significant money makers, but it is a sad and ill thought out bargain which gambles recklessly with the health of young students. For the corporations which produce and distribute the sugar-laden soft drinks and snacks saturated with fat, it is a profitable market which also gives them an early opportunity to hook young students on junk food. For these junk food pushers it is a case of leaving "no calories behind."

The folly and danger of putting the health of students on the line to finance school activities, however, is beginning to attract some long overdue attention. The Education Committee of the New Jersey Assembly has approved legislation which would ban junk food vending machines from all public elementary and middle schools in the state. Schools would be allowed only to have machines which dispense whole grain foods, juice, milk and water and similar products. In addition, the legislation would eliminate from school cafeterias any product that is made up of 35 percent sugar or contains more than 8 grams of fat.

A co-sponsor of the legislation, Assemblyman Craig Stanley, said, "public schools need to be a place where both healthy minds and bodies are created. Sugary fat-laden foods have no place in our schools." The bill now heads to the floor for a vote of the New Jersey Assembly, and it's a safe bet that soft drink manufacturers, the candy companies and the junk food merchants will have their lobbyists out in full force to block the legislation.

Hopefully, the medical community and health groups will counter the junk food pushers.

Certainly there is abundant evidence that obesity, fueled by unhealthy diets and excessive consumption of soft drinks and fatty foods, is a major national health problem.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the obesity rate for children and adolescents has more than doubled in the last 30 years. In 1999, an estimated 61 percent of adults in the United States were overweight. The report by the Surgeon General found that at least 13 percent of young children and adolescents were seriously overweight.

Studies by the CDC and other health research organizations suggest that obesity in the United States occurs at higher rates among African Americans and Hispanic Americans than among white Americans, while Asian Americans have relatively low levels of obesity. Some of the highest rates were among the American Indian population. In Arizona, for example, 80 percent of females and 67 percent of the males were found to be overweight among the native American population.

The American Obesity Association says that factors influencing the disparities in levels of obesity among racial and ethnic groups include cultural differences involving dietary choices, physical activity and the acceptance of excess weight among some groups. Sedentary lifestyles, particularly among middle age and older citizens, contribute significantly to overweight and obesity.

Whatever the causes and the distribution of obesity among different population groupings, according to a 2001 report by the U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, the cost of obesity‚both in terms of lives and health care costs‚are staggering. "Overweight and obesity may soon cause as much preventable disease and death as cigarette smoking," Satcher predicted.

The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimates conservatively that 300,000 U. S. deaths annually are associated with obesity and being overweight. This means that obesity is catching up rapidly with the 400,000 annual deaths associated with cigarette smoking. The total direct and indirect costs attributed to obesity amounted to $117 billion in 2000, HHS says.

There is a long list of obesity-related diseases including diabetes, cancer, heart disease and hypertension. The Surgeon General has warned that overweight and obesity have the potential to "wipe out the gains the nation has made in areas such as heart disease, cancer and other chronic health problems."

The New Jersey Assembly's Education Committee has taken a gutsy position in sounding the alarm about the dangers of junk food and its close link to obesity. More importantly, they have been willing to step forward with specific legislation which would ban the junk from the schools. The New Jersey legislators recognize that the effort to reduce obesity is a community responsibility.

As former Surgeon General Satcher said in his "Call to Action To Prevent Overweight and Obesity" three years ago:

"Communities can help when it comes to health promotion and disease prevention. When there are no safe places for children to play, or for adults to walk, jog or ride a bike, that's a community responsibility. When school lunchrooms or workplace cafeterias don't offer healthy or appealing food choices, that is a community responsibility. When new or expectant parents are not educated about the benefits of breast-feeding, that's a community responsibility. And when we don't require daily physical education in our schools that's a community responsibility."

Ralph Nader is the author of: The Good Fight : Declare Your Independence and Close the Democracy Gap (Harper Collins Books). http://www.ralphnadersgoodfight.com/