Are schools dessert-ing healthy eating for kids? Teaching Tubbiness, Part 1 I've been reporting for a long time about the battle over junk food in our schools. After all, it's the eating habits and waistlines of our nation's children at stake here. And if they don't learn how to eat properly in school (they certainly aren't learning at home, if the latest adult obesity figures are any indication), they'll face an uphill battle for lifelong health. It's funny how few of the nation's "educators" seem to know this. Anyway, at various times over the last year or more, I've reported on what I consider strides toward better school fare (like banning candy and vending machines), as well as the half-measures aimed only at currying political favor while increasing revenue to add to the already obscenely bloated public-school budgets (like "breakfast carts" with pop-tarts and muffins). And this week, I'm glad to say, there's some relatively good news on the topic. Well, let me rephrase that. The actual "news" is quite distressing - but if it spurs the appropriate response, it'll ultimately prove to be a boon to schoolchildren's health all across the fruited plain. Here's what I mean: According to a December Associated Press article, a new study from the University of Minnesota suggests that schools that run fund-raising "bake sales" have more overweight pupils per capita than schools which prohibit such events. This would seem to validate the increasing number of schools which are cutting down on the sweets, cookies, cakes, and baked goods - like the "breakfast carts" I mentioned before (Daily Dose, 9/5/2005). Of course, to you and me the answer is obvious. We've known for years that if you cut down on carbs and simple sugars, you'll lose weight and be much healthier. This approach isn't just for adults - it works wonderfully for children, too. The Minnesota research focused on a pool of more than 3,000 eighth-grade students in 16 Twin Cities-area middle schools. The results of the study showed that in schools that allowed more access to foods outside of the normal meal program (based on seven specific "food practices," like bake sales and the presence of vending machines), the body mass of students increased roughly 10% PER PRACTICE. The study was published in a recent issue of the AMA's Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
But what's really disturbing to me about this research is what it revealed about the "teaching techniques" that many teachers the North Star State are employing to promote not knowledge, but mass obesity in the student body. If it's happening all across the country (and I'm sure it is), it's no wonder we've got a major childhood obesity crisis on our hands. I'll explain what I mean in part 2 of this essay, in the next Daily Dose. Hope you're sitting down when you read it… **************************************************** Quantity trumps quality Study after study has shown that larger meal portions equal more food consumption. This "clean your plate" syndrome, coupled with restaurants and fast-food joints offering ever more "value" (food) for the dollar, is a large part of the problem we Americans are having in controlling our weight and waistlines. But until recently, I never realized just how powerful the impulse to eat ALL of what's put in front of us really is. A few weeks ago, a new Cornell University study found that portion size can even override a food's taste in motivating us to over-consume. Apparently, if you put enough food in front of someone, they'll eat large quantities of it - even if it doesn't taste good to them. The study used, among other mechanisms, a stockpile of 14-day-old stale popcorn. After eating it, many of the 158 movie-going subjects described the taste as "terrible" or other similar adjectives on a survey. But this didn't stop them from eating 34% more of it when it was served in a huge tub, rather than a smaller container! See? Even if we don't like a food, the primordial impulse to finish our meals is sovereign. Interestingly enough, 77% of the subjects surveyed thought they would have eaten the same amount regardless of what size the container was. In reality, they ate more than one third again more. Sort of explains the "super size" phenomenon pretty well, doesn't it? Shaking up bunk, not baking up junk, William Campbell Douglass II, MD | 
