Empowering Healthy Kids Blog

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The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released their latest findings from their 2006 survey of schools across the US:

• States prohibiting schools from offering junk foods in vending machines increased from 8 percent in 2000 to 32 percent in 2006, and the percentage of school districts doing so increased from 4 percent to 30 percent.
• Schools selling water in vending machines or school stores increased from 30 percent in 2000 to 46 percent in 2006.
• States that required elementary schools to provide students with regularly scheduled recess increased from 4 percent in 2000 to 12 percent in 2006 and the percentage of school districts with this requirement increased from 46 percent to 57 percent.
• Schools with policies that prohibited all tobacco use in all school locations, including off-campus school-sponsored events, increased from 46 percent in 2000 to 64 percent in 2006.
• Schools that sold cookies, cake, or other high-fat baked goods in vending machines or school stores decreased from 38 percent in 2000 to 25 percent in 2006.
• Schools that offered salads a la carte increased from 53 percent in 2000 to 73 percent in 2006.
• The percentage of schools that offered deep fried potatoes (French fries) a la carte decreased from 40 percent to 19 percent.

The CDC then offerred the following areas for improvement:

• Seventy-seven percent of high schools still sell soda or fruit drinks that are not 100 percent juice, and 61 percent sell salty snacks not low in fat in their vending machines or school stores.
• Only 4 percent of elementary schools, 8 percent of middle schools, and 2 percent of high schools provided daily physical education or its equivalent for the entire school year for students in all grades.
• Overall, 22 percent of schools did not require students to take any physical education.
• Currently, 36 percent of schools still do not have policies prohibiting tobacco use in all locations at all times.

Encouraging. Looks like the increased childhood obesity awareness is making a difference.

One of the dangers with highlighting health epidemics, such as childhood obesity, is the lack of objective balance. So when new research turns up that seems to contradict the prevailing wisdom, we must sit up and take notice. Reported today in The Age:

THE obesity epidemic among Australian children has been grossly overstated, according to a study that reveals the problem is concentrated among poorer families and some ethnic groups.

The study shows children from low-income families are twice as likely to be obese as children from high-income families, and their risks are increased if they are from Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, Aboriginal or southern European backgrounds. The study of health, fitness and fatness — based on a national sample of 8500 children aged six to 18 — is the first of its kind to measure social class and ethnicity.

Jenny O’Dea, associate professor of nutrition and health education at the University of Sydney, will present the findings today at the Community and Change conference, hosted by the university’s faculty of education and social work.

Dr O’Dea said the child obesity rate was “not rocketing out of control” and appeared to be levelling off.

“There’s a suggestion the whole of Australia is at risk of obesity and that’s been blown out of the water by this research,” she said.

The big increase in childhood obesity had occurred between 1985 and 1995 when the rate grew from 1.5 per cent to 5 per cent.

By 2006, the proportion of obese children had grown slightly to 6.3 per cent.

If these results are verified, this is welcome news. Further research needs to encouraged and we need to encourage these good news stories.

Funny.

Energy Now! is now receiving grant application from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut:

EnergyNow! is a results-based grant program that will enable schools to combat the alarming trend of obesity in our children. With an emphasis on building physical education and nutrition education programs that are doable, sustainable and effective, EnergyNow! aims to energize 1,000,000 kids in 1,000 schools.

What differentiates EnergyNow! from other obesity prevention projects is its results-based, collaborative vision to provide schools with the critical resources and assessment tools needed to help children get healthier. It’s a program that will enable them to understand the importance of living a healthy, active lifestyle while they are young and throughout adulthood.

I like the fact that it is results-based as we can evaluate the effectiveness of anti-obesity programmes and adjust and refine as necessary. More on the grants:

Schools will apply for EnergyNow! grants valued at more than $12,000. The grant recipients will receive:

• $2,500 to purchase PE equipment – Most schools have equipment budgets in the $500 – $1000 range. EnergyNow! grants will enable schools to purchase equipment based on their specific needs.
• Nutrition education lessons – The School Nutrition Foundation will provide a practical set of nutrition education lessons designed to connect the classroom and cafeteria to teach students a lifestyle approach to healthy eating based on actual food choices at home and school.
• 10 Polar E600 heart rate monitors, assessment technology and training - This equipment provides essential measurements and accountability so progress can be tracked. Polar trainers will provide training on the use of Polar technology for PE teachers and staff. Grant recipients will also receive pedometers.
• Training on NASPE standards – NASPE will provide training on its National Standards for Physical Education. Valid and reliable student data will also be collected to document the effects of the program.
• Information packets – These include details about becoming a part of the Alliance for A Healthier Generation’s program, resources available from the EnergyNow! partners, and information about various activities, contests and promotions available through EnergyNow!

Yesterday, I mentioned the UK government’s policy on tackling the rise of childhood obesity. While I believe that the primary responsibility of the health and well being lies with the individual (with parents keeping a watchful eye in the case of children), government policy has a large impact on our lives. With more taxpayer funds being devoted to funding anti-obesity measures, it is important that we track the effectiveness of these programmes, to ensure that we are getting a sufficient “return on investment.”

A new provisional paper (pdf) released by King, Turnour and Wise, entitled: Analysing NSW state policy for child obesity prevention: strategic policy versus practical action. Here are the key research questions:

• Was it the right policy? For example, this form of analysis may take account of whether policy was evidence-based, and whether it was appropriate to the target group and social context.
• Was the scope and scale adequate? Was the scale and intensity of effort sufficient to achieve the policy goals?
• Was the policy effective? Did the policy achieve stated or intended goals or performance indicators? Were there any unintended consequences?
• Was it feasible? That is, did the available resources and infrastructure enable the policy to be implemented?

The researchers use the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) as their “golden model” and compare the New South Wales’ policy with the IOTF model. Whilst this is a provisional paper and more results will be obtained, it is important that the outcomes (eg. Body Mass Index, Fat Percentage indices, reduction in health costs) of children are measured and tracked, with a long-term, controlled study. This is the only way to measure the return on taxpayer-money from government’s implementation of policy.

Gordon Brown jumps on the bandwagon:

Speaking on a visit to a school in south London, the prime minister said that although the government has invested £2.3bn in physical education over the last 10 years, more needs to be done.

Brown announced an extra £100m this year to try to broaden the range of sports available to children as a new survey revealed a worrying predicted rise in levels of obesity in the UK.

It suggested that 86 per cent of men will be obese in 15 years’ time, and 70 per cent of women will be obese in 20 years’ time.

The prime minister said more needed to be done on food labelling to help parents make the right decisions for their children.

“I want to see a young nation growing up that’s healthy and fit.

“Sometimes if you don’t deal with the problem quickly… then it just grows and grows and grows and gets worse,” he said.

On obesity the prime minister added: “It’s a huge problem and we’ve got to deal with it in a number of different ways.

“There are more school playing fields now. There is a wider range of sport in schools. Girls might be more interested in netball and yoga. It’s one of the answers to childhood obesity.

“When I was at school, one child in the class was very fat and it was a problem for them. Now there are four or five in the class and it’s a big problem for them.”

It will be interesting to track the long-term effects of these kinds of policy to ensure that it actually makes a difference to the rates of childhood obesity.

This surprised me:

As experts have been observing for a while, childhood obesity is growing alarming fast among affluent kids, especially in India’s metros. And as Anoop Mishra, a WHO obesity expert warns, the effects are long lasting, often stretching well into adulthood.

It was to tackle this that Swashrit, a non-government organisation (NGO), is promoting its Get Active campaign in schools to encourage children to be more active. “Sedentary lifestyle is a major killer,” says Bhavna Barmi, a senior clinical psychologist. The campaign, which was launched about two years ago, has a team of doctors, nutritionists, psychologists and lifestyle experts working with member schools to provide healthy and active alternatives to the children.

I believe we will see more of these types of announcements from the developing BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries in the next few years as their middle class populace continues to grow.

I came across a really succinct argument as to why junk food advertising bans will not work in alleviating childhood obesity. Guillaume Vuillemey argues in a paper from the Institut Économique Molinari:

[Vuillemey] comments on a proposal from French consumer organisation “UFC-Que choisir” for a law that would ban advertisements that promote the fattest and most sweetened products during transmissions of programmes targeted at children.

In parallel, the consumer organisation proposes a push towards consumption of healthy products by lowering VAT and the cost of advertising space for companies which promote healthy products, reports [Vuillemey].

According to Vuillemey, such a regulation would only serve to “demonise” certain products in an arbitrary manner and lead to uncertain results concerning the obesity issue.

The decision to buy one product or another depends on individual choice and is therefore necessarily subjective, explains [Vuillemey]. One’s choice might take into account the healthiness of a product but other characteristics, such as gustative pleasure, are also taken into account, he continues.

However, measures such as the UFC-Que chosir’s proposal are based on a distinction between “healthy products” and products which contain “too much fat” or “too much sugar”, he adds.

This distinction is without foundation because the nature of a product – too sweetened or too fat – can only be established in an objective manner, argues Vuillemey.

Only individuals can judge if one product is good or not for them, he adds. A chocolate bar could be bad for a diabetic child and good for a young sportsman, says [Vuillemey].

Moreover, banning some kinds of advertisement would equate to deceiving oneself over their effect on individuals, [Vuillemey] says. If parents and consumers do not want their children to eat unhealthy products, nothing prevents them from not buying it.

Lastly, banning one type of advertisement in an arbitrary manner equates to depriving citizens a source of information that has an added-value for them and would impact on consumers’ freedom of choice, concludes [Vuillemey]

I like his take on the fact that it is up to the individual to decide what is best for their bodies. In the case of children, I also agree that parents need to take an active role in encouraging their children to be healthy. We do not need food commissars to declare that certain food type are “good” or “bad” and then unfairly punish both the producers and consumers for making the “wrong” choice. It is far better to put resources into nutrition education and encourage sport, active recreation and just good ol’-fashioned play!

By combing a good ol’ fashioned scavenger hunt and health promotion, the Go for your life/Yarra Trams Melbourne City Romp, is a great initiative:

On Romp day, your team will use a mobile phone, a map and a clue sheet to try to unlock the mysteries of Melbourne. You’ll start at Federation Square (choose your start time between 10am and 12pm) and then spend up to four hours finding checkpoint locations, travelling by foot or tram.

At each checkpoint location, you’ll be given a random ‘Romp Checkpoint Challenge’ card. The challenge will involve using a mix of observation, brain power and teamwork. The Team Captain will use their mobile phone to text answers to us (normal SMS charges apply), and you’ll get an instant text back from us telling you whether you’re right or wrong.

For every challenge completed correctly, you’ll score points – the higher the difficulty factor of the challenge, the higher points you’ll earn. Plus, the further you travel away from Federation Square, the more points you’ll collect. Your team’s ranking within your chosen category will be determined by your points total at the end of your 4 hour time period.

It’s still not too late to register.