Fast food near schools = more obese students

If your high school was anything like mine, chances are there was a fast food restaurant within walking distance. Of course, my fellow students were ecstatic to go off campus during lunch and after school to gorge themselves on cheap, fatty foods to satisfy their insatiable appetites. In most communities, however, the proximity of fast food to schools has dire consequences as a recent study clearly demonstrates.

Economists at the University of California and Columbia University just released results from a comprehensive study showing that ninth graders whose schools are within a block of a fast food restaurant are more likely to be obese than students whose schools are farther away from fast food outlets. In fact, the researchers found that obesity rates were 5 percent higher among the students who were closest to fast food outlets.

The fact that fast food restaurants seem to be disproportionately located near schools is no coincidence. A 2005 study found that 80 percent of Chicago schools had a fast food restaurant located within a half mile. Ray Kroc, the mastermind behind the McDonald's empire, strategically located his restaurants near schools for years to lure young customers until, finally, in 1976 he succeeded in actually opening a restaurant inside an Arkansas high school. This insidious strategy may be good for business, but its taking a serious toll on our children's health.

Considering the public health epidemic related to children and poor diet, how should parents, public officials and school administrators react to the causal effect of fast food on childhood obesity? Several cities are beginning to examine zoning restrictions that would prohibit fast food near schools and in neighborhoods that have high rates of diet-related diseases that correlate to a high prevalence of fast food restaurants.

Do you think that banning fast food restaurants near schools would be a good step to protect the health of our students?


(Photo: A McDonald's eatery near Fullerton Union High School, where one-third of the ninth-graders in a multiyear study were found to be obese. Christine Cotter, Los Angeles Times, March 12, 2009)

Can Michelle Obama lead us out of Fast Food Nation?

This week, the web has been abuzz with talk of Michelle Obama breaking ground on the White House organic garden. Between that and her advocacy for getting families thinking about eating healthier foods, even nutritious food for the most vulnerable among us, the First Lady seems to be using her bully pulpit for the forces of good.

From a March 10 New York Times article:

“As the nation battles an obesity epidemic and a hard-to-break taste for oversweetened and oversalted dishes, her message is clear: Fresh, nutritious foods are not delicacies to be savored by the wealthy, but critical components of the diets of ordinary and struggling families.”

But will the First Lady take her advocacy a step farther? Far too many Americans still lack access to affordable, healthy foods. There are far too many neighborhoods that are “food deserts,” where there are no affordable grocery stores and little fresh produce, but a disproportionate amount of fast food and fast food marketing. Fast food corporations target their locations to be near schools from Chicago to Los Angeles. Surrounding schools with fast food is a very effective strategy for corporations trying to circumvent parental involvement in adolescents' food purchases. Is it any wonder that the folks who live in such neighborhoods are at higher risk for diabetes, hypertension and heart disease?

Should Mrs. Obama call attention to these food deserts? Draw attention to the unhealthy temptations of fast food near schools? What would you like to see her do next?

(Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP, accessed at msnbc.com.)

Epidemic Proportions: Diet & Disease

Two new independent studies released this month are giving us a clearer sense of the connection between diets high in unhealthy food such as fast food and a number of diseases.

New research from the University of Miami shows that children as young as three years old who are overweight can begin exhibiting the risk factors of cardiovascular disease This punctuates the fact that obesity poses health risks at any age.

The research reviewed national health data to isolate risky cholesterol and artery inflammation levels that often foreshadow heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases in young adulthood. These findings are frightening when you consider that nearly one-quarter of U.S. children aged two to five are overweight.

The study’s author, Sarah Messiah, noted that, “we are in uncharted territory.” If these childhood trends don’t immediately change, the global epidemic of diet-related diseases will continue to explode at unprecedented rates.

“People don’t think children this young would already show risk factors for adult-onset diseases. Twenty years ago, we never saw teenagers with type 2 diabetes. Now there are a whole slew of them,” Messiah said.

Unfortunately, it’s not just heart disease and diabetes that concern researchers when it comes to the link between diet and disease. The World Cancer Research Fund and the American Cancer Research Institute just released a major study that points to the growing obesity epidemic as a leading cause of cancer. The report expounds upon the 2007 findings of the same panel that found a third of cancers are caused by diets high in unhealthy food.

According to the study, an estimated seven million people die from cancer each year and that number is expected to rise to more than 10 million by 2020. The authors also project that the global obesity epidemic will drive the number of new cancer cases annually to 16 million by 2020. Overall, the death toll from cancer will double in the next forty years if trends don’t change.

The study’s lead author, Sir Michael Marmot, noted that our food environment plays a major role in the growing rates of diet-related cancers and other chronic diseases. In fact, Marmot emphasized a sense of urgency regarding booming fast food sales in a recession. "It is going to be difficult, but in a way it's even more urgent to ask what needs to be done,” Marmot said.

It’s no surprise that the report’s policy recommendations included several actions for the food industry including: stopping advertising of unhealthy foods to children and including accurate nutrition information on all foods. Sound familiar?

Considering the growing science around diet and disease, isn’t it time for the fast food industry to Value [the] Meal and our health over profits? How many more troubling studies and statistics will it take for Big Fast Food to curb its abuses?

Welcome to Value [the] Meal!

Welcome to the Value [the] Meal blog, brought to you by Corporate Accountability International. This is your space to discuss, challenge and provide solutions to the varied abuses of the fast food and related food industries, specifically those driving the global epidemic in diet-related disease. It is launching in concert with the Value [the] Meal campaign, which calls on fast food giants like Burger King and McDonald’s to stop aggressively marketing to our children, blocking our right to know basic nutritional facts about these products and interfering in public health policy.

Because as you know, fast food, highly processed and mostly high in fat, salt, sugar and empty calories, is now nearly ubiquitous and being aggressively marketed and sold to our kids in school, on the internet, at the movies – everywhere they go. In this way, fast food giants use many of the same tactics the tobacco industry employs to build a global market, hooking our children on these brands, making loyal customers for life.

We are facing for the first time in history a situation where American children could have a shorter life span than their parents. The cause: obesity and diet-related diseases caused by unhealthy food, with fast food an aggressive, driving force behind this health epidemic. Liver disease, certain cancers and heart disease are all on the rise, with children getting these conditions or their risk factors at increasingly younger ages.

Corporate Accountability International, its members and allies have decided that we cannot allow these trends to continue. Healthy, affordable food should be available to everyone. We should have faith that our kids can leave the house without having to navigate a nutritional minefield. McDonald’s and others have made “value” to mean how little we pay at the register, ignoring the cost to our health and environment.

So join us today in calling on fast food giants to Value [the] Meal over short-term financial windfalls. Then, stop back regularly to be a part of the conversation and the campaign’s progress.

My name is Judy Grant, and I’m the campaign’s director. With our staff and allies, I’ll be providing you the latest on our campaign actions, industry response, and new findings on the role of global corporations in a range of abuses that affect our economy, environment, and health. I will be inviting a range of food and nutrition experts to share their thoughts and analysis. I look forward to reading your comments, hearing your stories, and working with you for a healthier food future.