Obesity is a problem weighing on children

Since 1980, the percentage of overweight children in America has nearly doubled and the percentage of overweight adolescents has nearly tripled.

Today, 13 percent of all children and 14 percent of all adolescents are overweight, and 80 percent of them will become overweight adults.

Considering those statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it appears many of America's kids are fat and getting fatter.

To combat the problem of childhood obesity, a group of 200 parents, school administrators, health professionals, school food service personnel and nutrition experts gathered last week at the Qwest Convention Center in Omaha for the Nebraska Action for Healthy Kids Summit.

Speaker Bill Potts-Datema of Boston's Harvard School of Public Health said, along with parents, schools have a role in turning around the obesity epidemic.

"Schools should think about nutrition and physical education as a goal," he said.

Potts-Datema recommended that only healthy foods be sold or officially served in schools, noting the issue of vending machines in schools must be addressed.

"Whether or not to have vending machines is not an issue," Potts-Datema said. "It's to have healthy food in the machines" with fruit drinks containing at least 50 percent actual juice, low-fat rather than whole milk and sandwiches instead of highly processed snack foods.

"If you can't get the unhealthy food out of there," he said, "at least have a price differential," making healthy food choices less expensive than foods high in sugar and fat.

"Farmers markets," where students are able to choose from a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, have become popular in New England school lunch programs, according to Potts-Datema.

"Kids will actually eat fruits and vegetables if they're fresh," he said, noting an effort is under way to gain federal funding for additional such programs.

But eating right isn't the only answer to the obesity problem.

Regular exercise is invaluable, according to the CDC, helping not only to control weight but also to reduce feelings of depression and anxiety.

In 2001, nearly one-third of American high school students did not engage in vigorous physical activity on a regular basis. Only one-third attended daily physical education classes.

Potts-Datema recommended all P.E. classes be taught by qualified instructors, allowing 150 minutes of class time per school week for elementary students and 225 minutes per school week for high school students.

Communities can help students exercise by providing safe routes so children can walk instead of ride to school. One East Coast community developed a system of "human school buses," Potts-Datema said, where parents volunteered to walk groups of children to and from school.

"Kids have to be healthy to learn," he said, "and they have to learn to be healthy. Healthy kids make better students and better students make better communities."