Agenda 2012: Childhood Health | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: Agenda 2012 is the John Locke Foundation's charge to make known their wise political agenda to voters, and most especially candidates, with our twentieth instalment being "Childhood Health," written by Dr. Terry Stoops, Director of Education Studies at the John Locke Foundation. The first installment was the "Introduction" published here.

    As childhood obesity rates continue to rise, the debate over the role of public schools in promoting healthy lifestyles has intensified. Public health advocates contend that schools can curb obesity by banning the sale of junk food and soda. Their more radical proposals include taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages and zoning regulations that prohibit certain businesses from operating near schools. Over the last five years, however, research studies have reached a near consensus — stricter laws and regulations imposed by government officials do not reduce childhood obesity rates in any significant way.

Key Facts

   • Public school students often respond to bans on soda by purchasing different kinds of sugary drinks, like juices and sports drinks, from school vending machines. Yet even schools that ban all sugar-sweetened beverages from campus will not significantly reduce students' consumption of unhealthy drinks. Kids can simply bring them from home.

   • The consumption of unhealthy foods and drinks is inelastic. In other words, taxing certain food and beverage items will not necessarily reduce consumption of them. Consumers, particularly children, may simply shift their consumption preferences to other unhealthy, non-taxed foods and drinks. This problem raises the difficulty of defining which foods and drinks should be subject to taxes and regulations by state and federal governments.

   • So-called "fat taxes" and regulations are unpopular with consumer groups, particularly those who consume unhealthy foods and beverages in moderation and generally lead healthy lifestyles.

   • A study from the January 2012 issue of Sociology of Education examined junk food consumption and weight changes in nearly 20,000 public middle school students. Penn State University researchers found that the percentage of overweight or obese students did not rise in concert with the increased availability of unhealthy foods and snacks. In fact, the percentage of overweight and obese students decreased slightly as the availability of junk food increased.

   • In 2011, The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine published a study that sought to find a link between obesity and beverage consumption in schools. A team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago examined the beverage intake of nearly 6,000 public middle school students in 40 states. They concluded that soda bans in middle schools did not significantly reduce students' consumption of sugary drinks.

   • Research suggests that banning advertising or modifying land usage to create healthy "built environments" are ineffective deterrents. In a 2011 Canadian Medical Association Journal study, Mark Eisenberg and his colleagues reviewed the literature on advertising and obesity and acknowledged, "A true causal association with regards to neighborhood-associated risk factors and obesity has yet to be clearly established." The authors concluded that "the link between poor health outcomes and advertising of unhealthy foods is still unclear."

   • Researchers have yet to establish a causal association between health outcomes and restaurant zoning restrictions. For example, a 2011 study published in BMC Public Health found no relationship between overweight or obese children and the proximity of fast food restaurants and supermarkets to their schools.

   • A study published in the September 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine hypothesized that there was a relationship between obesity-related eating behaviors and the presence of snack and soda machines in schools. Much to their surprise, they found little relationship between the two.

Recommendations

    Federal, state, and local governments should not impose arbitrary taxes, regulations, or prohibitions on the consumption of certain foods and beverages. Rather, we should remain dependent on parents and guardians to instill the values of a healthy and active lifestyle in their children.
    Public schools should ensure that all children participate in health and physical education activities several times a week. Additionally, public schools should invite all students to use sports and recreational facilities before school, after school, and on weekends.


    Analyst: Dr. Terry Stoops

     Director of Education Studies
     919-828-3876 • tstoops@johnlocke.org