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Legislative effort targets school junk food, aims to upgrade nutritional guidelines Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

REPPED: The Senate Agriculture Committee recently held a hearing on school nutrition that has inspired the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) to keep driving toward national action that will help get junk food out of the public school system. Congress could move this year to restrict junk food sales in public schools, while lawmakers search for a way to conquer the national epidemic of obesity.

What's ahead in 2007 for NewsTarget, an update from Mike Adams Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Other programs offered by this non-profit will include school nutrition programs and small pilot studies on the effects of nutritional supplements on people who exercise. More product reviews and recommendations Starting in a few weeks, our editorial focus will shift towards more product reviews and recommendations. Readers have told us they want more specific guidelines on which products to buy -- and they want that information from a truly independent source like NewsTarget.

Sugar Shock!: How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life-- and How YouCan Get Back on Track Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

North Carolina school nutrition Action Committee. "Soft Drink and School Age Children: Trends, Effects, Solutions." http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/CERU/Articles/CERU-0203-41-OWI.pdf. Nutritional Summary for beverage: Coca-Cola Classic. http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-B00001-01c21da.html. Ogden, C. L., et. al., "Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in the United States, 1999-2004." Journal of American Medicine 295(13) (2006): 1549-55. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/ 295/13/1549. Olshansky, S. Jay. "A Potential Decline in Life Expectancy in the United States in the 21st Century.

Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back Michele Simon See book keywords and concepts

See Appendix 4 for a complete list of arguments and how to counter them as well as advice from advocates on getting a school nutrition bill through the legislature. Global Scene: UK Embarrassed into Action Other countries face similar challenges when it comes to improving school food. But rapidly rising obesity rates among British children is now prompting serious action, in part thanks to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's devastating 2005 television series on the sorry state of UK school meals.

Finally, in the question that would become my motivation for writing this book (as I mentioned earlier), State Representative Charlie Brown, chairman of Indiana's Public Health Committee, asked why, if Coca-Cola was such a responsible corporate citizen, it had sent a team of five lobbyists to kill his school nutrition bill? Thompson became flustered and annoyed, saying he didn't know anything about that. As i sat there watching this sorry display by our nation's top public health official, I wondered why he had agreed to take questions in the first place.

The lobbying group that has fought against improving school nutrition policy in every state in the nation is going to distribute watered-down educational materials to bilingual kids in poor neighborhoods. Maybe if GMA and its members would stop marketing its diabetes-causing foods to "high-Hispanic populations," the kids wouldn't need any pamphlets. Small Thinking, Small Steps When it comes to poorly conceived nutrition-education campaigns emanating from Washington, the food pyramid has plenty of company.

So, for example, when a state proposes a school nutrition bill, CCF is on the spot, fulminating about how such policies are an egregious affront to students' "choices"—never mind the fact that such legislation typically enjoys overwhelming public support. CCF speaks for a small segment of society—corporate elites—and its purpose is to portray those powerful minority interests as universal interests. This detail is rarely discussed in the mainstream media, which often can't even be bothered to disclose CCF's industry backing.

Indeed, in several states where school nutrition bills were pending at the time of the announcement, the local AHA advocate was told that she could no longer support such legislation as a result of the deal forged at the national level.23 This, in a nutshell, is what is so dangerous about the efforts of corporations to position themselves as responsible citizens committed to upholding the public's best interests: such maneuvers can be extremely effective at lulling policy makers, advocates, and the general public into a false sense of security.

The ABA had been lobbying against state bills to improve school nutrition for years, so its selection of this audience for its initial pitch was no accident: the group was well aware of exactly whom it was wooing. As a PR maneuver, the proclamation paid off well, precipitating an immediate rash of newspaper accounts with headlines such as "Soft Drink Industry Takes High Road,"13 "Schools Get Ally in Soda Issue: Drink Makers,"14 and "U.S. Beverage Industry Praised for Helping in Childhood Obesity Battle.

Food Fight Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen See book keywords and concepts

This seemingly drastic move is consistent with recommendations from an expert consensus panel on school nutrition.87 The little existing research and several anecdotal reports suggest that children adapt well to such aggressive changes. Cutting back on high-sugar and high-fat foods should be coupled with increasing the range of choices among healthy items by offering healthy foods and beverages in vending machines, school stores, canteens, and cafeterias. Such rules can be made at local, state, and federal levels.

Philadelphia Consortium Works for Healthier Eating in Schools Galvanized by a proposed $43 million agreement between Coke and the Philadelphia school system and realizing that the food environment in Philadelphia schools should be improved, nutrition-minded people from various community organizations in Philadelphia came together to form the Comprehensive school nutrition Policy Task Force.

Department of Agriculture created a program called "Healthy school nutrition Environments" in conjunction with several health organizations. Claiming that nutrition should be a priority in every school, the group pointed out that students "are flunking healthy eating." þOnly 2 percent of youth meet all the recommendations of the food guide pyramid; 16 percent do not meet any. þFewer than 15 percent to 20 percent of schoolchildren get adequate servings of fruits and vegetables. þOnly 16 percent of children meet the guidelines for saturated fat.

The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children Carol Simontacchi See book keywords and concepts

Any student who skips a meal, who has no access to breakfast or lunch or who fails to make healthful food choices risks incurring serious learning and health deficits. school nutrition programs help to ensure the maximum return on the billions of dollars spent for public education, which will enhance America's future productivity. Why, then, are the top advertisers in the food service magazines the junkiest foods on the market?

Food Politics Marion Nestle See book keywords and concepts

Part of the reason for paying attention to school nutrition education is that it has been demonstrably effective, especially when supported by meals served in school cafeterias. Participants in school meal programs have been shown to consume better diets than nonparticipants. If students replace school meals with competitive foods of minimal nutritional value, the quality of their diets can be expected to deteriorate.

Citizens Commission on school nutrition recommends restrictions on availability of non-nutritious foods in schools. 1991 American Dietetic Association and American School Food Service Association recommend restricting or banning sales of competitive foods in schools. 1994 Senate introduces bill to restrict or ban school sales of soft drinks and other foods of minimal nutritional value. Congress reaffirms 1985 rules but permits USDA to propose "model language" recommending time-and-place restrictions on sales in elementary schools.

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ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of this NaturalNews Naturalpedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.