Statement by Real Food Initiatives

Responding to a multidimensional problem, February 11, 2007

A growing majority of children and youth face a number of problems related to diet and health:

They eat more nutrient-poor, high-calorie, highly processed foods.
Half of the foods they consume are prepared and eaten away from home.
Meals eaten away from home are more likely to contain more calories.
Food marketers spend billions of dollars a year encouraging consumption of low-quality foods.
Health education curricula have been eliminated or diminished as educators scramble to improve test scores in reading and math.

These problems are pervasive among all segments of the American population and are growing in severity. More American children are overweight or obese today than at any other time in our history. The prevalence of overweight among children aged 6-11 years has more than doubled in the past 20 years, and among adolescents aged 12-19, it has more than tripled.¹:² Researchers predict that by 2010, nearly half the children in North America will be overweight or obese.

Despite the growing girth of America’s youth, a corresponding nutrient shortage exists. Twenty percent of total calories that children consume daily are devoid of essential nutrients but high in fat and calories.⁴ Only 2 percent of school-age children meet the US recommended daily allowances for the five food groups.⁵ This poor dietary pattern contributes to children’s insufficient intake of a variety of nutrients — including iron, vitamin A, vitamin B6 and, most significantly, calcium.⁶

The economic and social impact of this troubling health trend, labeled an epidemic by several health organizations, has begun to take its toll and will be felt for generations to come. Overweight and obesity, influenced by poor diet and inactivity, are significantly associated with an increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, joint problems, and poor health status.⁷

The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity and the consumption of diets poor in essential nutrients and high in fat, sugar, and calories are influenced by multiple factors. A groundbreaking report from the Institute of Medicine found that children and youth aged 4–17 years have increasing discretionary income and purchasing capacity, are being targeted more directly by marketers, and frequently spend their discretionary income on processed, high-calorie and low-nutrient foods and beverages.⁸ An estimated $10 billion per year is now expended to market food, beverage, and restaurant products to children and youth.⁹

Meanwhile, families are spending less time eating meals at home. In 2002, approximately half (46 percent) of Americans’ food expenditures were spent on away-from-home foods that were either fully prepared and eaten either outside the home or brought into the home for consumption, up from 27 percent of Americans’ food expenditures in 1962. The share of Americans’ daily caloric intake from away-from home foods increased from 18 percent in 1977–1978 to 32 percent in 1994– 1996.¹⁰

When they do shop for food at the supermarket, Americans find aisles filled with thousands of high-calorie, low-nutrient products and a growing number and type of marketing strategies to encourage consumption -- from health claims to coupons to product placement. The most common reasons that supermarket shoppers report not eating a healthful diet is the desire for convenience foods, perceived cost, and confusion about what constitutes healthful choices.¹¹

Our children will pay for these dismal trends, with their tax dollars to fund skyrocketing health care costs and with their own health. It will take a major effort from every segment of the food production and delivery spectrum to reverse the trend of childhood obesity. The food industry should be called on to change its product development and marketing practices. Government agencies should provide more resources to fight obesity and establish healthier policies. Parents should change their dietary practices to serve as better role models for their children. Schools should improve food choices offered at lunch, snacks, after school programs, and in the hallways.

Schools are an ideal place to start. Meals and snacks at school can provide one-third to one-half of a child’s daily nutritional needs.¹² Seeking an opportunity to push schools to do more, in 2004 Congress required schools participating in breakfast and lunch programs to develop a wellness policy by the summer of 2006 that includes goals for nutrition education, physical activity, nutrition guidelines for foods sold at schools, and a plan for measuring implementation of the wellness policy. The development of wellness policies have forced school districts to revisit the way they source, prepare, offer and educate about healthy food.

The USDA has also taken some steps to increase children’s access to healthful foods. The USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program now provides $9 million a year to schools in eight states and three Indian Tribal Organizations to encourage increased consumption of fruits and vegetables as snacks. Participating schools say the program is very successful, and its funding should be increased.

Four states—California, Florida, Hawaii, and New York—have healthy school lunch resolutions in place that aim to combat childhood obesity. These resolutions recommend that vegetarian entrée options be served daily and urge schools to place an increased emphasis on healthy plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes.

Minnesota, typically a leader on national economic, education, and health indicators, is far behind other states in its embrace and action around better nutrition policies in schools. For example, the Minneapolis Public School District received a D+ on the 2006 Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine School Lunch Report Card.¹³ Center for Science in the Public Interest gave the State of Minnesota an F in its 2006 School Food Report for its lack of healthy school policies.¹⁴

Real Food Initiatives is being developed to respond to these problems. Seth Bixby-Daugherty, a nationally-acclaimed chef, and his wife Karen are establishing a nonprofit venture to break the cycle of processed foods and bring cooking back through improved lunch options, culinary arts and nutrition curricula, and parent education. Join their efforts to be part of a monumental change in the way schools prepare, serve and educate about food.

References

Ogden CL, Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Johnson CL. Prevalence and trends in overweight among US children and adolescents, 1999-2000. Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;288:1728-32.
CDC. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2005 [pdf 300K]. Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 2006;55(SS-5):1–108.
Wang Y and Lobstein T. Worldwide trends in childhood overweight and obesity. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity. 2006;1:11-25.
Subar AF, et al. Pediatrics. 1998;102:913.
USDA’s A Report to Congress. Jan 2001. www.fns.usda.gov.
USDA’s 1994-96 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals.
Mokdad AH, Ford ES, Bowman BA, et al. Prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and obesity-related health risk factors, 2001. Journal of the American Medical Association 2003;289(1):76-79.
Institute of Medicine. Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? Committee on Food Marketing and the Diets of Children and Youth. 2006.
Brownell KD, Horgen KB. 2004. Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry, America’s Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.
Variyam JN. 2005b. Nutrition Labeling in the Food-Away-From-Home Sector. Economic Research Report No. 4. Washington, DC: Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. [Online]. Available:www.ers.usda.gov/publications[accessed April 30, 2005].
FMI (Food Marketing Institute). 2003. Shopping for Health: Whole Health for the Whole Family. Washington, DC: FMI and Prevention Magazine.
Briggs, J, S Safaii, DL Beall. Positions of the American Dietetic Association, Society for Nutrition Education, and the American School Food Service Association. Nutrition Services: An essential component of comprehensive school health programs. J Amer Diet Assoc. 2003:103(4):505-514.
Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine. 2006 School Lunch Report Card. Accessed February 10, 2007.
Center for Science in the Public Interest. 2006 School Foods Report Card. www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/sf_reportcard.pdf. Accessed February 10, 2007.