Childhood Obesity

THE FIGHT AGAINST CHILDHOOD OBESITY

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 percent of America's children are overweight. Inactivity and unhealthy foods are two causes of this growing problem, which can have serious health consequences. Therefore, PTAs are taking action to combat this problem and raise healthier children.

The Alaska PTA passed a resolution advocating for regular physical education programs in schools, as well as a resolution recommending that all food items in schools--including vending machine snacks and beverages--meet the U.S. Department of Agriculture's requirements for minimum nutritional value.
Both resolutions were subsequently adopted by delegates at National PTA's conventions in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

The Aptos PTSA Student Nutrition Committee at Aptos Middle School in San Francisco, California, successfully banned junk food from being sold in the school and has replaced the junk food with healthy alternatives.

The PTSA at Ford Elementary School in Acworth, Georgia, sponsors the Mileage Club, which rewards students for the miles they accumulate by walking every week.

Read more about these PTAs' efforts to promote healthy lifestyles in "PTAs Fight the Childhood Obesity Epidemic" on National PTA's Members' website at http://www.pta.org. To subscribe to "Our Children," visit www.pta.org/aboutpta/store/oc_magazine.asp.

The vending machine industry seems to be taking note of efforts to combat childhood obesity and is launching its own anti-obesity marketing campaign. The Snackwise Nutrition Rating System being promoted by the vending machine industry evaluates the nutrition content of snack options and assigns them a point value. Based on the point value, each snack item is given a colored sticker to help students and others identify the healthy versus unhealthy choices: Green is "best choice," yellow is "choose occasionally," red is "choose rarely." (Ref: www.cnn.com)

Nutrition Resource Materials
This packet of resource materials was developed by the Schools Committee, which is one of the standing committees under the Virginia Healthy Pathways Coalition. Download the packet.