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TweetJune 14, 2012, CNN, Amanda Gardner
Obese children and teenagers face a slew of potential health problems as they get older, including an increased risk of diabetes, heart attacks, and certain cancers. As if that weren’t enough, obesity may harm young people’s long-term college and career prospects, too.
In recent years, an uneven yet growing body of research has suggested that obesity is associated with poorer academic performance beginning as early as kindergarten. Studies have variously found that obese students — and especially girls — tend to have lower test scores than …

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May 20, 2012, The Guardian, by Toby Helm and Denis Campbell
An exasperated Jamie Oliver has written to every MP demanding a U-turn over nutrition rules in schools after education secretary Michael Gove refused to act on a report that found nine out of 10 academies were selling junk food.
Announcing the move on his website, the TV chef, whose campaign for better food in state schools has lifted standards for millions of pupils, told voters that if their MPs did not act “you can safely assume that they don’t care about …

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TweetMay 10, 2012, South Coast Today, Anika Clark
Modern kids are growing up in a world of soaring childhood obesity where soda in public school vending machines has become a four-letter word.
But new state regulations to de-whoopie pie school bake sales and de-candy class celebrations put the icing on the cake.
“I actually got quite a few phone calls from my district from organizations that were very upset about this — obviously, football, boosters, folks who raise money through bake sales,” said Rep. Bradford Hill, R-Ipswich, who introduced a measure in the …

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TweetMay 10, 2012, China Daily, by Cheng Yinggi and Li Yao
Chinese students aged 10 to 13 are in grave physical condition due to poor diet and lack of exercise, according to a report.
The report, released by China Development Research Foundation in 2011, found that malnutrition was affecting 12 percent of students in poverty-stricken areas.
Roughly 12 percent of the children in those areas were also short for their age, and 9 percent were underweight because of nutritional deficiencies.
Fast food has become a major health threat for urban students. The latest research …

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June 16, 2011, Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times
Fewer than 1 in 5 of the children who relied on free or reduced-price lunches during the 2009-2010 school year in California received subsidized meals last July, according to a new report.
That represents a 15% drop in participation in summer meals programs from the year before at a time when enrollment in other federal nutrition programs is increasing because of the lingering effects of the recession.
The report by California Food Policy Advocates blamed cuts to the state’s education budget, which caused many school …

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June 15, 2011, WebMD, Denise Mann
A child’s risk for becoming overweight or obese does not seem to increase when fast food establishments and stores are located near school grounds, a new study finds.
“Unhealthful food choices are ubiquitous and consequently stores selling these food items near schools have no significant effect on student obesity,” researchers led by David E. Harris, PhD, of the University of Southern Maine in Portland say in the July/August 2011 Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
Researchers compared the weight and height of 552 students from 11 high …

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TweetReuters, Julie Steenhuysen, November 1, 2010
Despite efforts to limit their availability, public elementary school students in the United States have more outlets to buy unhealthy beverages at school, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
Over a three-year period ending in 2009, more students could buy sweetened beverages like sodas, higher-fat milk and sports beverages from vending machines and school stores, they said. Such drinks are a major source of calories, and removing them from schools could help curb the nation’s obesity epidemic.
“Elementary school students are still surrounded by a variety of unhealthy …

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TweetSan Fransisco Chronicle, Stacy Finz, September 23, 2010
Science classes in Berkeley are taught weekly in campus gardens. English, history and math courses are held regularly in the kitchen. The cafeterias have been rid of processed food, and everything is made from scratch.
The experiment started five years ago to teach a generation reared on junk food about good nutrition, where their food comes from and the environment.
The naysayers laughed, “Only in Berkeley.” Even the less skeptical wondered if kids could be weaned off Pop-Tarts with the lure of Brussels sprouts.
Now, the …

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TweetLos Angeles Times, Karen Kaplan, September 2, 2010
For many students, “back to school” means back to a vending machine diet. As you might guess, this isn’t necessarily a good thing for student health.
Vending machines are found in 16% of U.S. elementary schools, 52% of middle schools and 88% of high schools. About 22% of students in grades 1 through 12 buy food in vending machines each day – and those purchases added an average of 253 calories to their diets, according to a new study in the September issue of …

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The Huffington Post, Michelle Locke, July 15, 2010
It’s not hard to figure out that stocking school vending machines with sugary sodas and salty, fatty snacks is a bad idea. Replacing those culinary culprits with something more nutritious is tougher.
But a growing number of school districts around the country are trying anyway.
“I can’t say enough for what it does for the kids to have the junk out of the machines,” says Patricia Gray, who as former principal of San Francisco’s Balboa High School oversaw a switch to healthier snacks.
“It was …