Extension joins partnership to improve school foods
n an effort to fight childhood overweight, North Carolina Cooperative Extension has joined forces with the state’s Department of Public Instruction and the Division of Public Health to set voluntary standards for foods served in public schools.The initiative, “Eat Smart: North Carolina’s Recommended Standards for All Foods Available in School,” was announced in May at Southeast Raleigh High School. The standards were recommended by the N.C. Healthy Weight Initiative’s 100-member task force as a way to control the state’s epidemic of child overweight.
State Health Director Leah Devlin told the group that childhood overweight is epidemic in North Carolina. Among the state’s teens, one in four are overweight, and more than one in five elementary school children are overweight.
Because the chances are great that overweight youngsters will become obese adults, the long-term health risks to them are catastrophic, Devlin said. The financial costs of obesity in North Carolina were more than $2 billion in health care dollars alone in the year 2000, she said.
The school nutrition standards cover any food or beverage served in schools, even at events during non-school hours. Schools can assess where they stand – from “needs improvement” to “superior” – and decide on realistic goals for improving their standards.
Dr. Carolyn Dunn, Extension nutrition specialist in the Family and Consumer Sciences Department, was a member of the panel that wrote the voluntary standards. While schools may still offer foods like hot dogs and soft drinks at sporting events, to meet the highest standards they would have to offer healthy choices as well, such as chicken sandwiches and bottled water, she said.
“Families need to be involved too,” Dunn said. “Families provide an important foundation for healthy eating, and parents are the primary role models that children and teens look to for guidance in making smart food choices.”
Dr. Jon Ort, Cooperative Extension Service director, told the group that childhood overweight is a concern not only for North Carolina, but for other states as well. A national board of Extension leaders that Ort serves on has made childhood overweight a priority for all U.S. land-grant institutions, he said.
Cooperative Extension has been involved in nutrition education for many years, Ort said, and most recently, preventing childhood overweight has become a priority. One program, Color Me Healthy, teaches preschoolers the benefits of healthy eating and activity, while SyberShop is an interactive CD that targets youth with the same message.
Howard Lee, chairman of the state Board of Education, said it is time for schools to reemphasize the importance of children’s health. While schools cannot take all the blame for child overweight and diabetes, schools can be part of the solution, he said. Greater awareness of nutrition in schools can lead to more positive behaviors at home.
The effort will require a unified voice from the state Board of Education and the state Department of Public Instruction, Lee said. One important step will be to evaluate and implement school vending machine standards now in place, but not heavily enforced. Lee added that local school board chairmen will meet to discuss their responsibilities for school foods standards.
Broughton High School student Sandy Roberts of Raleigh offered praise for the efforts to improve school foods. Roberts said he was fortunate to grow up in a home where healthy eating was the norm, but he added that many youth learn about healthy eating only through schools.
“Kids can be advocates for change. The challenge to them – and to me – is to make these standards come to life,” Roberts said. “In about two years, it’ll be the cool thing to do to eat healthy.”
— Natalie Hampton