Better nutrition begins in school

It's an exciting - and challenging - year to focus on nutrition and obesity in North Carolina.

Our state has already done a lot to address the issues, but we need to do much more. We live in an environment that undermines our health. It's easier to overeat and to eat poorly than to eat well in our state.

That's why state lawmakers have created a legislative task force on childhood obesity. The task force is holding meetings to help members understand what the state can do to solve the problem.

Last week, I had the privilege of presenting to task force members in a session devoted to the food industry. Speakers included representatives from Campbell's Soup and the N.C. Beverage Association.

Around the country, most people think the best place to begin addressing the obesity epidemic is in schools. Last month, President Barack Obama signed an executive order creating a federal childhood obesity task force, and first lady Michelle Obama launched the "Let's Move" campaign for kids. It makes sense to start with schools. Children eat as much as half of their calories at school.

In the past 10 years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been working to improve school meals. But we have a long way to go. For example, while the amount of saturated fat in the average school lunch has decreased, most school meals are still far too high in artery-clogging fats.

The USDA contracted with the Institute of Medicine, the health and science advisory arm of the National Academy of Sciences, to develop better meal standards. The institute recommended that schools serve more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, serve only nonfat or low-fat milk, use only trans fat-free products and cut sodium over time.

But it may take the USDA as long as five years to update school meals guidelines. We can't wait that long to begin making those changes.

We can take other steps to improve the food environment for kids, too. Ideas include:

Change prices to encourage healthier food choices. Lower the cost of fruits and vegetables and increase the prices of french fries, pizza, desserts and junk foods.

Strengthen standards for foods sold in vending machines, school stores and a la carte food sales. North Carolina has one of the weakest policies in the country - behind Alabama, West Virginia and Kentucky. We've made progress in elementary schools but need to extend those improvements to middle and high schools.

Apply nutrition standards to school fundraisers. It's a bad idea to enlist kids in selling unhealthy foods to their families and friends. Branded fundraisers - selling Hershey's candy bars and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, for example - send the wrong message and undermine nutrition education.

Pass a law to limit the marketing of unhealthy foods in schools. School marketing policies should cover logos and brand names on textbook covers, school signs, scoreboards, structures and equipment. That includes vending machines - hallway billboards in schools.

That's just a start. The N.C. Institute of Medicine - a health advisory organization modeled after the national IOM - issued detailed recommendations for improving the food environment for North Carolina's children. Check out the report on adolescent health and the Prevention Action Plan at www.nciom.org.

Our children's health is in crisis. It's time for bold action.