Schools Are Key To Fighting America’s Obesity Epidemic

Schools in Connecticut and across the nation should be a cornerstone of the nation’s obesity battle, but to trim Americans’ waistlines, changes are needed everywhere people live, work, play and learn, a major new report says.

Two-thirds of US adults and almost a third of children are either overweight or obese, and progress to stop this epidemic has been too slow, the influential Institute of Medicine said in a recently released report.

Most know that children should eat less and move more. But the institute makes clear this is not just an individual but a societal problem: For a host of reasons, sedentary lives have become the norm and we are surrounded by cheap, high-calorie foods.

The new report offers a roadmap of the most promising strategies to change that — and argues that the solutions cannot be implemented piecemeal.

“Each of us has this role. We can’t sit back and let the schools do it, or let a mayor do it or think somehow the federal government’s going to solve it,” said report co-author William Purcell III, former mayor of Nashville, Tenn. “These recommendations require concerted effort among all.”

Still, the report says schools should be a national focus since they’re where children spend up to half of their waking hours and consume between a third and half of their daily calories.

In an effort to help end childhood obesity in the state of Connecticut, Congressman Jim Himes visited Jefferson Science Magnet School recently to observe Project LEAN (Learning with Energy from Activity and Nutrition), an innovative program designed to tackle childhood obesity.

Project LEAN, a three-year program now in its second year, was designed to improve the overall health of students by teaching them lifelong habits of healthy eating and exercise, and to reduce the students’ body mass index (BMI), an important health indicator. The program includes a “Breakfast Boot Camp,” in-school nutrition classes taught by a dietician at Norwalk Hospital’s Clinical Nutrition Department, and monthly family events.

The three-year program is introduced to second graders and was started through collaboration between Pepperidge Farm, Inc, Norwalk Hospital, Norwalk Department of Health, and Norwalk’s Jefferson Elementary School.

“Programs like Project LEAN are important because they help kids learn how to manage their own well-being,” said Congressman Himes. “As we look for ways to root out costs in the health care system, this is a great place to start because healthy kids become healthy adults.”

Jefferson Elementary was chosen as a pilot school for the program because it is the largest elementary school in Norwalk, serves the largest minority population (83 percent) of elementary schools in Norwalk, and has a large population of children who receive free or reduced rate lunches — an indicator of financial need.

According to the Institute of Medicine study, schoolchildren should get at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day — a combination of physical education, recess and other activities, the report says. Many schools have slashed PE and cut into recess in recent years in an effort to increase learning time amid tighter budgets. The report also says schools should serve healthier foods — backing school nutrition standards — and teach students about good nutrition.

Other recommendations include:

*Restaurants should ensure that at least half of kids’ meals comply with federal dietary guidelines, without charging more for the healthier options.

*Healthier foods should be routinely available everywhere, from shopping malls to sports arenas.

*More food companies should improve how they market to children.

*To make physical activity routine, communities should be designed with safe places to walk.

*Public and private insurers should ensure better access to obesity screening, preventive services and treatments.

*Employers should expand workplace wellness programs.

The Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, is an independent organization that advises the government.

Associated Press content was used in this report.