info@ehhi.org

Research Areas

Rising Obesity Rates Among School Children Spur Action By PTAs, Health Departments and Environment and Human Health, Inc.

Press Release

School Children

[Hartford, Connecticut, September 9, 2004] Prompted by rising rates of childhood obesity, Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI), conducted a yearlong study on The State of Nutrition and Physical Activity in Our Schools. The findings of this report are so alarming that parents and administrators are being asked to get involved.

PTAs, local health departments, and Environment and Human Health, Inc. are calling on parents and school administrators to form committees to evaluate their school’s nutrition and physical activity environments and then to make recommendations for improvements. EHHI is a nine-member, non-profit organization composed of doctors, public health professionals and policy experts whose groundbreaking investigation into the state of nutrition and physical activity in schools has prompted this call for urgent action.

“The PTA recognizes that good nutrition is a key component in creating healthy and productive individuals,” notes Connecticut PTA Vice President Therese Duncan, chair of their legislative committee. “We encourage local PTAs to be involved in monitoring and evaluating school meal programs, as well as other foods that come into the schools, to ensure high quality nutrition for children and youth. We encourage parents, schools administrators, and communities to work together in partnership to provide effective, comprehensive, healthful programs and policies. The PTA will continue to work at the local, state, and national levels to enhance the nutritional health of our nation’s children and families.”

The information in EHHI’s report was obtained from food service directors, cafeteria staff, physical education and nutrition teachers and students, who were interviewed in person during on-site visits to 62 schools. The schools studied were from every county in Connecticut, as well as every level of school, including grammar, middle, and high school. Schools were also from every Economic Reference Group (ERG), which is a classification used by the Board of Education to group together schools with similar socioeconomic status.

“EHHI’s research found that food items come into schools from many different sources,” says EHHI President Nancy Alderman. “Cupcakes come in for birthday parties, school fundraisers sell candy items and cookies, cakes arrive for bake sales, classrooms have parties, there are many school-operated vending machines, and food-based rewards are given for academic achievement or and good behavior.” Chocolate candy and lollipops sold as fundraisers are frequently available in schools and are often eaten by students during the school day.

“Although a large portion of learned behavior in the area of nutrition occurs in the home, the schools are an important influence on the decisions and choices that children make,” says Bill Blitz, director of health for the North Central District Health Department. “When vending machines and vending machine contracts are used to produce needed revenue for school systems, possible conflicts arise that must be addressed. It is critical to chronic disease prevention that schools and parents look at what foods children are exposed to and how to help them improve their choices.”

The North Central District Health Department has hired a full-time health educator who will devote a large portion of her time to working on nutrition education and childhood obesity prevention within the towns of the district, and will be available for consultation with the schools within the district.

Leslie Balch, health director of the Quinnipiack Valley Health District, warns, “It is very important that parents be aware of what foods are available in the schools today, especially in the upper grades where there are so many foods that are high in fat and sugar available for much of the student’s day.”

The study showed that while there is food offered in the schools for much of the school day not a single school in the study, at any level, met the national recommendations for daily physical education.

At the elementary school level, fifty-five percent of the elementary schools in the study offered their students physical education only once a week, while not a single school provided more than two classes per week.

In the middle schools, one-quarter of the schools provided only one semester of physical education or were on a three- to five-week rotational basis. Students could go for four or five months with no physical activity whatsoever at school. Middle school students received less than half the nationally recommended amount of physical education.

In high school things got even worse. Students were allowed to go for as many as three consecutive years with no physical education whatsoever.

Research supports the idea that schools at every socioeconomic level can be places where students learn to eat well and be active, but it takes attention and commitment from the school administration, parents, teachers, and staff, and it may also take some legislative changes to protect our children's health.

“Entire school cultures with respect to food and physical activity will have to be improved if we are to protect our children’s health,” says Alderman. “The best way to accomplish this goal is for each school to create committees to look at the whole school environment with respect to food opportunities and physical exercise. EHHI’s comprehensive report, along with its recommendations, can be used by these committees as a roadmap if they choose.”

© EHHI | 1191 Ridge Road North Haven, Connecticut 06473 | Phone: (203) 248-6582 | Fax: (203) 288-7571 | info@ehhi.org