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Arkansas Studies Student Obesity -- Educators Share Fixes for Growing Problem

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 October 2005, 12:02 CDT

By Annie Bergman Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK - Modifying cafeteria recipes, limiting student access to vending machines and developing walking trails around campuses are some of the initiatives Arkansas school officials discussed Monday to reduce the risk of children becoming obese.

Child Health Advisory Committee representatives met at the first School Nutrition and Physical Activity conference Monday in an effort to tackle the childhood obesity problem in the state.

The school representatives discussed ways in which their communities are addressing Act 1220 of 2003, which requires them to develop and implement local policies that encourage healthy activities.

"What we know from talking to folks is that there are a wide variety of solutions or approaches that are being implemented," said Martha Phillips, an associate professor at the Fay Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, one of the speakers at the conference.

"The school districts are making recommendations for their students that are locally relevant. They know what they have, and they frequently think about things us academics don't normally think about," Phillips said.

At Washington Elementary School in Fayetteville, each Wednesday is set aside as farm-to-school day in which children eat locally grown produce as part of their lunchtime cafeteria meals.

The school started the program - the first of its kind in the state - this academic year as one of its healthy activity policies after the act was passed, said Lisa Jerkins, food service director for the Fayetteville School District, who was scheduled to speak to the conference on the successes of the program.

So far, the students have sampled sunlit tomatoes (a yellow version of cherry tomatoes), baked red potatoes, golden yellow watermelon and a variety of sweet peppers, squash and turnips, Jenkins said.

Jenkins said the district hopes to expand the program to include other schools and a school garden like the Dunbar Garden Project that serves Gibbs Elementary School and Dunbar Middle School in Little Rock, she said.

In El Dorado, the district participated in a pilot program where all carbonated beverages were removed from campuses to test whether students would make healthier choices.

Teresa Swint, chairman of the district's advisory committee, said the students learned to adapt and began to like the healthier alternatives.

"They finally bought into it," Swint said. "They really liked being able to buy the bottled water."

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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