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 …

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 …

Reuters, 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 …

San 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 …

Los 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 …

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 …

A National Institutes of Health sponsored school-based, healthy living intervention did not significantly reduce obesity in high risk middle-school children, researchers have found.

But while the HEALTHY Study missed its primary endpoint of reducing combined rates of overweight and obesity compared with control schools, the intervention significantly reduced other measures of adiposity compared with controls, according to Gary D. Foster, PhD, of Temple University, and colleagues.
They reported their findings online in the New England Journal of Medicine and at a session during the American Diabetes Association meeting here.
“Surprisingly, to us at least, …

The Guardian, Jo Tuckman, May 27, 2010
The Mexican government is to ban junk food and fry-ups in primary and secondary schools in an effort to combat one of the worst obesity problems in the world.
From the beginning of the next school year, school shops will no longer be allowed to stock fizzy drinks, sugar-stuffed fruit juices, processed snacks, or more local delights such as chilli soaked sweets. Nor will school kitchens offer traditional standards such as fried tacos.
“The kids are going to complain, of course,” the education minister Alonso Lujambio …

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of children who are overweight has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Among teenagers it is even worse with the number increasing more than three times in the same period. This had led to over 10 million children falling into the overweight or obese category. Being obese or overweight at such a young age can lead to serious health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and even cancer.
With a prediction of one in three …

Tara Parker-Pope, January 25, 2010, The New York Times
Can something as simple as the timing of recess make a difference in a child’s health and behavior?
Some experts think it can, and now some schools are rescheduling recess — sending students out to play before they sit down for lunch. The switch appears to have led to some surprising changes in both cafeteria and classroom.
Schools that have tried it report that when children play before lunch, there is less food waste and higher consumption of milk, fruit and vegetables. And some …