Hot on HuffPost Parents:
Claire McCarthy, M.D.: Is Your Family Ready for a Disaster?
HooplaHa: WATCH: Shari Alyse: Showing What Kids Can Teach Us
Vending Machines at School Impact Students' Nutrition, Study Says
Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals: Tweens, Research Reveals: Teens
Selections in school vending machines have a direct impact on whether a student's daily food intake is balanced, a new study shows. Credit: Paul J. Richards, AFP / Getty Images
Based on research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, students are more likely to get their required nutritional daily intake when a school offers healthy options in its vending machines. The study, which examined data from a 2005-2006 survey, was conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health.
Despite the legislative step Congress took this week to remove greasy fries and not-so-healthy alternatives from lunch menus, it doesn't look good for students who want to supplement healthy lunchroom meals with non-nutritional vending machine staples.
Looking at the daily habits of nearly 6,000 students, the study underscores the suggestion that vending machines offering chips, cookies and sugary-sweet drinks negatively impact the bodies of the school's student body.
Students in younger grades are particularly susceptible to the offerings and, research indicates, a student's overall daily dietary intake is directly impacted by the school's vending machine food choices. According to the research, schools with vending machines stocked with fruits or vegetables do more to improve students' nutritional intake versus the ones stocked with chips and cookies.
However, the researchers found more than 80 percent of 152 schools in the study had vending machines with choices of "minimal nutritional values." According to the report, schools play a major role in affecting a child's eating habits. While lunchroom meals are federally regulated, foods and beverages sold in vending machines have not had such oversight.
Vending machines are found in 97 percent of the nation's high schools and 82 percent of middle schools, according to the report. Other studies have also shown a correlation between the body mass index and school-wide practices, including a study cited in this report that found for "every additional unhealthy food practice that was permitted in the school, body mass index of the students increased by 10 percent."
Your<span>Voice</span>
Ask Us Anything About Parenting
TheTalkies:RelatedVideos
-
USDA Releases New School Snack Food Guidelines
The USDA sets limits on the snacks sold in school vending machines.
-
Too Fat To Fight - Military Leaders Blame Obesity On Junk Food
A group of 300 military leaders released a report blaming vending machines in schools for unfit recruits. Should obesity be considered a national security issue? Alyona Minkovski is joined by guests Jaime McCall, Michelle Azizi and Tony Shaffer to discuss.
-
Too Fat To Fight
A group of 300 military leaders released a report blaming vending machines in schools for unfit recruits. Should obesity be considered a national security issue?
-
Classic Game Room - SPACE RACE Pinball Machine Review
Classic Game Room reviews SPACE RACE Pinball Machine from 1977! This CGR review of Space Race pinball machine has gameplay from the classic, old school Space Race pinball arcade machine with 70's style, spacey graphics and cool visuals like a B-Movie sci fi classic.
SitesWeLove
- Site Map
- |
- Staff
- |
- Terms of Service
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Trademarks
- |
- Advertise With Us
- |
- About Our Ads
- |
- AOL Downloads
- |
- Contact Us
- |
© Copyright 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Aol Family
ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
12-03-2010 @ 2:34PM
Serena said...Check out www.healthyuvending.com they specialize in health vending snack options and are in dozen of schools/businesses in the Chicagoland area! The products taste great and kids love them! A much better option than what is currently out there!
Reply
12-07-2010 @ 12:22PM
Sharon said...Schools are missing valuable opportunities to teach. So many teachers really don't care. I have been in over 7 different schools and all of them were full of teachers who did not care. They had their tenure and life and did not want you in it. One teacher would just put the answers to her tests on the board. She said she could careless whether we learned it or not. Take away tenure and save us our money! Http://bit.ly/FreebieHomepage has great free stuff and coupons for you to save money!
12-04-2010 @ 10:32AM
Jane Hersey said...Schools are missing valuable opportunities to provide healthy food in their vending machines and at the same time generate a nice income. When a school leases or buys their own machines, and stocks them, they get to keep the entire income, and not ship most of the profits off to the cola giants or other junk food companies.
Imagine if vending machines had delicious, healthy food...students could find something nutritious if they skipped breakfast that morning. Or they could have a snack after school when they stay late for sports or other activities. With healthy food in the machine, the school would not have to turn them off during the day.
And about the school lunch being nutritious since it is under the jurisdiction of the US Dept. of Agriculture. This is a cruel joke. If you look at the ingredients in most school lunches and compare them to fast food and junk food (which I do in my work) you will find that the school food is worse! Take a look at www.School-Lunch.org for some eye-opening information about the foodless foods being served to your kids!
Reply
12-06-2010 @ 12:26AM
Mea said...It depends on where you are and what your school district thinks is important. The district I retired from teaching in has a strong focus on healthy foods and attempting to make the food attractive to the students. the problem is that many of the students do not eat it. they get their tray of free food and maybe take a bite or two and then, when it is time, they take the dollar they brought from home and buy an ice cream with it. They are not all that hungry because after they eat the breakfast that the school provides they bring a snack from home to eat a couple of hours later. That usually involves a pretty large size bag of chips or Cheetos and a 20 oz. Gatorade or something like that. the problem with childhood obesity is rarely due to what is served in school. We need to push schools to demand that students only bring healthy snacks to school - and educate them on what those are. They should not have access to junk food at school. Period.
12-05-2010 @ 8:32PM
Skeleton said...Not to mention that school lunches (at least in public schools) already have more calories than they need to "make up for calorie deficiency" for students who don't get enough food at home. Its stupid because those types of students are the low minority, so while they my benefit, the schools are just making the majority of the student body fat.
Reply
12-05-2010 @ 8:37PM
foodisgood said...Don't want your kids to get cruddy school lunch and unhealthy vending machine food? don't give them pocket money, and make them brown bag their lunches.
Reply
12-06-2010 @ 1:05AM
Condor598 said...I find all this talk about nutrition and vending machines at schools ridiculous. It is preposterous to blame what is being sold in the vending machine on anyone, but ourselves. I graduated from high school in 1979 and he had vending machines at our school. I recall purchasing sodas on a regular basis either during lunch hour or after school and I was neither "overweight, fat nor obese". As a matter of fact, none of the group of friends I had was overweight. One thing we did do was play sports, lots of sports. I played football and during the off season if we didn't play another sport we would get together after school and lift weights or play a pickup game of football or baseball. The bottom line is that we were always active burning calories. When I got home I would eat dinner with my family go to my room and study or prepare my things for the next day. On weekends we would go to my father's business and help him there. When we got home we hooked up with our friends and go play some game or activity. Back then I was a 150 lbs. kid playing running back for my high school football team, today, at 49 yrs. old, I weigh 189 lbs. and mostly muscle since I sill workout 3 times a week and involved in sports. I watch maybe an hour of TV per day and get on the internet 2 hours per day. NOW, I ask anyone reading my comment ---- Did you read, anywhere in my comment, that I was sitting around idle watching TV or playing video games? Folks the responsibility of teaching our kids to eat well is ours as parents. I believe that kids will stop at the corner store and buy junk food if vending machines are removed from schools. Again I reiterate that as parents have got to stop waiting for someone to baby sit our kids, video games, TV and the internet. We need to take an active role in our children's lives and get them involved in sports or anything that will keep them active.
Reply
12-12-2010 @ 1:27PM
dee74656 said...I agree with Condor598, but would like to add that it is not always the food service program to blame for the junk foods brought into the schools. For years I have been trying to discourage teachers and principals from having food rewards for the students. Apparently, my words continue to fall on deaf ears. I can see no reason why a teacher or principal would need to have an afternoon pizza party complete with chips (not baked or low fat), soda (not diet) and candy especially when our food service program does follow the Health and Wellness initiative and our vending machines only contain food items that meet the Nutritional guidelines. I also fail to understand why our culinary arts and teaching restaurant still serve soda to the kids during the lunch periods and why they are permitted to compete with the National School Lunch program.
Reply