Guest guest Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 > What is new, though, is the message that child - and his parents - are > hearing. > > Mc now snowboards, and his once-portly frame looks to > have shed at least 30 pounds. The box for Henry's Happy Meals reads, > " A game of tag keeps me happy and fit. " In one commercial, a woman > does a victory jig when she finds out her Lay's potato chips are > low-fat. A Frosted Flakes ad shows children running around a soccer > field with Tony the Tiger. > > " Without a doubt, the food industry, while not moving away from > convenience, has begun to push health as the main driver of food > packaging and promotion, " said Don Montuori, publisher of Packaged > Facts, which does consumer research for food companies. > > The companies say they are doing their part to combat obesity by > offering lower-calorie, lower-fat choices, and encouraging children to > exercise. Mc's sponsors track events for young runners, and > Coca-Cola has created the [8]Tiger Woods Foundation to promote > children's sports. > > But what would seem to be welcome news has simply created a different > problem, according to many nutritionists and public health officials. > Despite a salad here or a lower-fat oil there, they say, the food > industry has done little to change the basic unhealthfulness of its > best-selling products. And by making the link to fitness, they say, > the companies are telling children that all of those foods are good > for them. > > New immigrants from China are keenly receptive to such claims because > the Chinese have used foods to cure illnesses and promote general > health for thousands of years, said Dr. , the Harvard > anthropologist. One cure for a cough, for instance, involves duck > gizzards, apricot kernels and watercress. A variety of foods are > thought to improve brain function. > > Many Chinese people have replaced those traditional foods with > processed foods, Dr. said, and have little idea what is in > them. Still, the faith in food persists: for instance, he said, there > is a widespread perception in China that eating at Mc's can > somehow make you smarter. In New York, Professor Suarez-Orozco said, > immigrant parents often reinforce that connection by rewarding > academic achievement with a Mc's meal. > > And many Chinese companies have adopted the same kind of health > pitches as their American counterparts. At the Hong Kong Market, a > juice box called Vita Chrysanthemum Tea promotes itself as a health > drink for children, though nutritionally it is little different from > Snapple. > > Ye Zhou, a sixth grader whose parents arrived from China shortly > before she was born, said she tried to eat right, and knew that some > foods were unhealthful. On this day she had come to the Mc's on > Main Street to try the new Premium Crispy Chicken Breast Sandwich, > drawn by the ads that touted the " energy " packed in the meal, which > includes French fries and a soda. > > How, she was asked, did it compare nutritionally with the stir-fried > chicken and rice her mother made at home? > > " They taste different, " she said. " But one is not healthier than the > other. " > > Actually, the fast-food meal has at least one-third more calories, > carbohydrates and grams of fat than a typical homemade one. > > Even before the latest blitz of health messages, children were > confused, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation said in a 2004 report > on childhood obesity. In a 1997 study it cited, fourth and fifth > graders were asked which of two foods - say, corn flakes or frosted > flakes - was more healthful; the children who watched the most TV were > the most likely to pick the less nutritious one. > > For more than two decades, Dr. S. Acuff helped hone food ads > aimed at children as a marketing consultant to companies like > Coca-Cola and Nestle. But about two years ago, he said, he stopped > consulting on products he did not consider nutritious after > recognizing the threat posed by obesity. He called the industry's new > sales strategies disingenuous. " To position themselves as leaders in > providing healthy food for children is nonsense, " he said. > > He and others - including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the > American Psychological Association - have called for tighter > restrictions on advertising to children, similar to limits in > Australia, Canada and England. They are also concerned about the > increasing use of the Internet and video games to sell food. > > But repeated attempts to enact such strictures in the United States > have failed for three decades, and at a meeting last July in > Washington, the Federal Trade Commission told food and advertising > executives that it favored letting the industry police itself. > > A few companies have done just that - most notably Kraft Foods, which > decided last January to curb its advertising of certain products, like > Oreos and Kool-Aid, to children under 12. The move raised eyebrows > both in the food industry and in public health circles because of its > implicit suggestion that there are bad foods. The industry has long > maintained that there are no bad foods, only bad habits - like > overeating. > > Tim Wong is only 10, but he had no problem polishing off a large > dinner platter from the adult menu one afternoon at the KFC on Main > Street in Flushing. He had asked his mother to take him and his > 6-year-old sister, , so they could try " the new stuff " on the > menu. " I see the new items on television and I want them, " he said. > > When he was asked what his favorite foods were, his mother laughed. > > " Look at him, " she said in a matter-of-fact way, as Tim is obviously > overweight. " He likes his junk. " > > Time for Gym! O.K., Time's Up! > > " Two fingers in the air! " the teacher aides shouted at the more than > 100 children squirming in the auditorium seats. > > Two fingers held high is the way students at May Chen's school signal > that they are sitting quietly enough to be let out for recess. It was > 10:30 a.m., less than two hours after they had been served a breakfast > that included chocolate milk, a doughnut and a juice box - at least > 400 calories and 47 grams of sugar waiting to be burned off. > > Finally the doors opened, and the students scampered out to the > playground, a parking lot ringed by a chain-link fence. Several boys > ran around like mad. In a makeshift game of keep-away, May and some > other girls tossed around a bag of cheese snacks. > > They had to play fast. Twelve girls were lined up to jump rope, but > only three had a chance before a bell summoned them back inside for > lunch. > > May's recess had lasted eight minutes. > > It was, as always, the only recess for the day, and fortunately the > weather was mild. On cold or rainy days, the children stay inside and > watch movies. > > Recess and physical education are treated like luxuries in the New > York City schools. Though half the grade schoolers are overweight and > roughly one in four are obese, the city did little until last year to > promote one of the best antidotes: exercise. > > May, like most schoolchildren in the city, does not get even the > minimum amount of physical education mandated by state law, two hours > a week. She has a single gym class each week, for 50 minutes. > > She is among the lucky ones. More than half the city's 700 elementary > schools have no usable outdoor play space, according to a 2003 survey > by the City Department of Education. May's school has only one gym > teacher for its 1,000 students, but roughly one in seven elementary > schools in the city have no teacher dedicated to physical education. > > And although P.S. 120 has a functioning gym, many elementary schools > do not, according to reports by the City Council and the State > Assembly. Even those that have gyms often use them for classes or > meetings. There has been no standardized testing of student fitness in > more than a generation. > > The sad state of the school gym class is a legacy of the city's fiscal > crisis in the 1970's, when the budget for physical education was > slashed to protect other academic programs. But New York's plight is > not much worse than the rest of the country's. > > Even as the health authorities pronounced obesity a national > [9]epidemic, daily participation in gym classes dropped to 28 percent > in 2003 from 42 percent in 1991, according to the Centers for Disease > Control and Prevention. And the Bush administration recently proposed > cutting Physical Education Program grants to schools by more than > one-quarter, to $55 million, though Congress rejected the proposal. > > Schools are so desperate to finance exercise programs that many have > turned to food companies for help. Mc's is offering curriculums > and undisclosed sums to 31,000 schools across the country to improve > physical education through an effort called Passport to Play; every > piece of program literature that children see will carry the company's > golden-arches logo. > > Two years ago, even as New York's health department was assigning a > team to improve the treatment of diabetics, the city signed a deal > with Snapple that made its fruit drinks the only beverages, besides > water, sold in school vending machines. A 12-ounce can of Snapple > contains 170 calories and 40 grams of sugar, as much as most colas. > The calories in three cans - the amount many students drink every day > - would take at least three hours to walk off. > > The 29 fourth graders in May Chen's class have gym directly after > lunch, and their stomachs were full this day with chicken nuggets. > They did not change into gym clothes. The teacher, Bruce Adler, > started them off with calisthenics, moving quickly to situps and three > leisurely laps around the basketball court. There were groans, and > several children were winded, but few broke a sweat. > > Mr. Adler, 55, said the school could really use a second teacher, > recalling how different things were when he was growing up in Yonkers. > Students there had at least three gym classes a week, he said. > > New York school officials say they are adding more physical education > teachers each year. And two years ago, the Bloomberg administration > created the Office of Fitness and Physical Education. Its director, > Lori Rose Benson, has begun a program called Physical Best, which will > track students' fitness, charting progress for each school. She said > she hoped to start the program by the end of this school year in every > grade school with a physical education teacher, including May's. > > She conceded it was merely a first step. " It is very difficult to > reverse a culture that existed for 20 to 30 years, " she said. > > Tilting at Golden Arches > > At least two unthinkable things happened in Albany in the past year. > > One made headlines: The Legislature passed a budget on time. The other > went unnoticed: The Assembly actually debated a bill that tried to > address, in some small way, the leap in obesity and Type 2 diabetes. > > It was a rare moment of attention for a cause that has drawn little > more than lip service from government officials, and it was > short-lived. The debate, and the bill, died in mocking laughter. > > The story of that bill, known as A5664, is a lesson in the ways of > Albany - and the apathy that diabetes experts say is blocking any > effective response to the epidemic. > > The lesson was an abrupt one for Assemblyman Jimmy Meng of Flushing, > who had already embarked on a sharp learning curve. When he was > elected the previous fall - the first Asian-American voted into state > office in New York - diabetes was nowhere near the top of his list of > health issues. > > But as he became more aware of the disease's threat to children and > young adults in his community, Mr. Meng said, he became frustrated > with the ignorance and inaction he discovered. > > In April, he organized and led the first march in Queens to raise > money and awareness in the battle against diabetes. And he agreed to > support legislation by a fellow Assembly Democrat, Felix Ortiz of > Brooklyn. > > The bill would require all restaurants to prominently post the amounts > of calories, fat and salt in each menu item. It was hardly a radical > notion. Many fast-food chains had already begun listing calorie counts > in restaurants and on Web sites, and months later Mc's would > decide to print nutritional data right on its wrappers. > > But Mr. Ortiz felt those moves were only a start. Who knew how many > calories were in a slice of the neighborhood pizza or a Starbucks > caramel macchiato? > > His passion for the issue - this was just one of six bills he > introduced in the 2004-5 session to fight obesity and diabetes - was > fed by his own loss. His mother died of the disease when she was only > 58. > > " Everything was caused because she did not take care of her weight, " > he said. > > In Albany, the path from legislation to law is thorny, and Mr. Ortiz > brought along his own set of hurdles. He was hardly an insider within > the Democratic conference, which is controlled by Speaker [10]Sheldon > Silver, and some of his bills were considered odd. One would have made > it a crime for a person not to come to the aid of another in trouble. > > The restaurant labeling bill looked like another loser. It had no > support from the Democratic leadership. Although it was backed by the > American Diabetes Association, which has spent $9,000 lobbying New > York lawmakers in the past few years, it was opposed by the food > industry, which contributed more than $4 million to legislative and > gubernatorial campaigns between 1999 and 2005, according to state > records. > > And diabetes had hardly caught fire as a pressing health issue. The > Pataki administration is investing $9 million this year to encourage > physical activity among children, but the state has not moved to limit > the sale of unhealthful snacks in schools, as a half-dozen other > states have. Only $1.9 million of the $100 billion state budget goes > directly to diabetes prevention and control, roughly the same amount > spent to fight [11]anorexia and [12]bulimia. > > Two months after the Health Committee approved Mr. Ortiz's bill, it > had still not come up for a full Assembly vote. But on June 22, as the > legislative session wound down, the bill found its moment. > > Many members were in a hurry to leave town. As evening approached, Mr. > Ortiz spotted Mr. Silver, chased him down a corridor and cornered him > outside the speaker's office, in a space where legislators often > horse-trade in whispers. Mr. Ortiz, however, was shouting: " I get the > same excuse every year! " > > He wanted his bill debated and voted on by the full Assembly - an > unusual request in Albany, where measures rarely make it to the floor > of either house unless they are assured passage. Mr. Ortiz's five > other bills to fight obesity had languished in committees. > > If a bill this mild could not succeed in New York, Mr. Ortiz argued, > what hope was there for more sweeping measures? > > Mr. Silver relented. And when the bill came up for a vote, near > midnight, Mr. Ortiz had the floor. " This is about the future of our > children, " he said. > > When he stopped, the sarcasm began. > > D. Conte, a Long Island Republican, said his family owned a > burger restaurant. What would happen, he asked, in the case of > all-you-can-eat buffets? > > Mr. Ortiz said the law would apply only to standard menu items. > > " What about the weekly specials? " Mr. Conte asked. > > Laughter rose in the chamber. J. O'Donnell, a fellow Democrat > from Manhattan, kept it going. " I watch people who work at Mc's, > and they don't measure how much salt they put on fries, " he said. " Do > you expect there to be a shaker lesson? " > > Mr. Ortiz said he guessed that employees were adequately educated. > > An hour went by. A few colleagues defended the measure. Others argued > that enforcing it would be a nightmare, and that the costs would hurt > small restaurants. > > As the time for debate waned, M. , a Republican from > Poughkeepsie, rose to state his position. " I did not develop this > physique by eating healthy, " Mr. , a stout man, said to guffaws. > A colleague completed the joke by bringing him a generous plate of > cookies. > > " The bottom line is, it is not going to matter, " Mr. said. " We > are fooling and deluding ourselves. " > > Mr. Ortiz made one last plea. " When we look at the rate of diabetes in > our state, " he said, " and when we look at this bill, we should remind > ourselves that the decision we make here tonight will make an impact > on our kids. " > > The result was clear as soon as the voting began. The yes votes showed > up on an electric signboard in green, the no votes in red. Within > minutes, the board was glowing red. > > Before the tally could be completed, Mr. Ortiz stood and delivered the > final word: " I would like to say, with a lot of passion, I withdraw > this bill. " > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.17/227 - Release Date: 1/11/2006 > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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