FIGHTING FAT IN SCHOOL

Teenagers, as any parent knows, don’t want to be told what to do. This applies to their eating habits, too, according to a recent Pennsylvania study, which found that by posting health information about lunch entrees high school students more often chose the healthier alternative on their own. With this in mind, Maine is taking a modest step in the right direction by requiring the posting of caloric information for some school foods and for standardizing portion sizes.

These requirements are part of LD 796, which the governor is expected to sign into law today. The bill as originally written would have done much more by requiring the posting of nutritional information for all menu items and restricting the sale of food through vending machines and a la carte items to those that adhere to national healthy food standards.

It also would have required 150 minutes a week of physical activity, outside of recess, for elementary and middle school students and 220 minutes a week for high school students. A nutrition component would have been added to the state’s Learning Results standards and students’ body mass index would have been measured and calculated.

The pared-down version of the bill that will become law requires that after Aug. 31, 2008, school food service programs post the caloric information for pre-packed a la carte menu items. It also requires the Maine Department of Education to establish portion standards for food and beverages sold outside of school lunch programs. These requirements must conform to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s single-serving standards.

Both are too limited to make much difference in student eating habits, but they are a good start at improving what and how much kids eat, an important task considering obesity rates among children have nearly quadrupled in the last 30 years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 percent of boys and 14.5 percent of girls ages 6 to 11 were obese in 2000. In 1971, 4.3 percent of boys and 3.6 percent of girls were considered obese. In Maine, more than a third of kindergarten students are overweight and the state has the highest obesity rate among adults in New England.

The study of six high schools in Pennsylvania found that sales of pepperoni pizza and cheeseburgers fell, while those of cheese pizza and hamburgers and veggie burgers rose once the nutrition charts went up. Students also chose baked chicken over more fatty and caloric fried chicken choices.

Noting the importance of self-determination and freedom to teenagers, the researchers concluded: “It would seem prudent to provide the means for young adults to determine for themselves what is healthful.”

With this new law, Maine has taken a prudent, if small, step.