IAPPLAUD SODA MAKERS' new national plan to take sugary drinks out of school vending machines, and I wish it went further.
The program is optional, still allows sales of candy and fatty snacks, and lets companies advertise to our kids all day long at school. I hope that school districts will go further to protect American children from advertising, and to offer fruits and vegetables in vending machines.
Don't get me wrong. Although I'm a dietitian, I'm not a nutrition Nazi. I eat chocolate every day, and my parents nicknamed me "Cookie Monster" when I was a kid. My concern is that we are peddling branded drinks and snacks, not fruits and vegetables.
Schoolchildren are a captive audience to the advertising displays on school vending machines. We have a responsibility to protect children while at school. If parents want to serve candy or chips at home, I think that is normal and fine. Parents can see if the kids are overdoing it and can offer a balanced variety of foods.
Better drink choicesThe new guidelines for school vending machines, aimed at curbing rampant childhood obesity, came from teamwork
The guidelines suggest selling only water, juice and flavored milk, in 8- to 10-ounce containers, during elementary and middle school hours. In high schools, machines would sell 12-ounce containers of those drinks plus sports drinks, diet sodas, teas, flavored waters and the like, according to the plan released earlier this month. It would be implemented over the next few years.
I think doing away with the massive 20-ounce bottles of soda is terrific. If kids still want soda, they can easily get it elsewhere. But while in school, they have healthier options.
Ideally, though, I wish for something more: taking down the huge, brand-name ads on vending machines and including healthy foods, such as apples, oranges and the like. Soda vendors pay schools big bucks, sometimes more than $1 million
It's hard for cash-strapped school districts to turn down cash handouts from the soda vendors. One Maryland school makes $90,000 a year from vending-machine sales, one-quarter of its operating budget, according to The Washington Post. That's for one school building, not the entire school district.
Some contracts mandate that schools sell a certain number of cases of soda and that they leave vending machines on all day, despite federal rules to turn off machines during breakfast and lunch hours so as not to compete with hopefully healthier foods in the cafeteria.
I don't have any children yet, but as a taxpayer, I would prefer to pay higher school taxes rather than nickel-and-dime our children with junk-food sales.
Targeting kids is wrongUnfortunately, the new guidelines still allow the drink makers to be endorsed by schools to market their brands to kids. The top soda makers, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Cadbury Schweppes, also own competing lines of bottled waters, flavored milk, iced teas, sports drinks and juices.
They will continue to advertise all these brand-name products
And the guidelines allow sales of chips and candies. I'm not saying that these products are bad--I enjoy many of them. And I am a capitalist, having owned my own small business in Virginia. But I question the morality of marketing such high-fat snacks
Research shows "children under the age of 8 are unable to critically comprehend televised advertising messages and are prone to accept advertiser messages as truthful, accurate and unbiased," according to the American Psychological Association. The group calls for restricting ads aimed at children.
Most of the research has explored TV ads targeting kids, but I would bet money that vending-machine displays also tempt children. Otherwise, the vendors wouldn't lavish cash on fancy displays and packaging.
Many other countries, such as Denmark, Sweden and Australia, limit or prohibit ads aimed at children under 12.
Why do we Americans allow companies to take advantage of our kids? And if we insist on letting companies market their brands, why don't we also market whole fruits, vegetables, yogurt and other healthy choices?
Fresh foods are more delicate and perishable than packaged snacks, but if we are truly dedicated to preventing childhood obesity, then replacing candy and chips with apples and oranges would be money well spent. Many places that are open all night, such as hospitals and train stations, have refrigerated vending machines with healthy choices such as yogurt and fruit.
Demanding healthier drinks is only the beginning.
JENNIFER MOTL, a registered dietitian, welcomes reader questions via her Web site, brighteating.com, or mailed to Nutrition, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401.