CNN: 10 years later, school still sugar free & proud

[Guest guest]

What a great school! Kudos to principal too!

10 years later, school still sugar free and proud

By Madison Park

CNN

(CNN) -- The children in the cafeteria drink low-fat milk, shovel

corn kernels on their sporks and munch on tuna sandwiches on wheat.

For dessert? Peaches.

There are no bake sales here, no birthday cupcakes, no cookies or ice

cream. Don't even think about bringing sugar to Browns Mill

Elementary School.

As schools around the country have begun removing soda and junk food

from their premises, the elementary school in Lithonia, Georgia, was

ahead of the curve, cutting out sugar 10 years ago under the watch of

principal Dr. -.

" Childhood obesity, it's our tsunami, it's our Katrina, " she

said. " If we're really thinking about the best interests about the

young people today, then we will take a stand. "

Some may think the steps are draconian, but a glimpse inside the

school's cafeteria shows hundreds of students coolly sipping their

milk and juice and eating, instead of screaming, squealing and

swapping snacks. Soothing jazz music plays in the cafeteria. Watch

Dr. - in the school cafeteria. »

The school day starts with an hour of jumping jacks, exercising and

dancing -- one morning to the beat of " Whoomp! (There It Is) " as the

children bounce and sing along. Students also eat a breakfast of

omelets, soy milk, organic cereal and turkey sausages.

" When students are healthy, they do their best work... " -

said. " We want to make sure we're providing foods that will

not only nourish the body, but also brain foods. "

It turns out the kids don't hate the healthy stuff.

" One of the most requested vegetables now is broccoli... " -

said. " Can you believe that? The kids love broccoli. "

In the first six months of the sugar ban, disciplinary incidents went

down 23 percent, counseling referrals decreased 30 percent, and in

the first years of standardized test scores, reading scores improved

15 percent, she said. Browns Mill was named a national blue ribbon

school and a Georgia school of excellence in 2005.

The school since 1998 has shown improvements in test scores, truancy

rates and counselor referrals, said Dr. Terry Huang, the director of

obesity research for the National Institute of Child Health and Human

Development. More data such as body mass index would be needed to see

whether the students became healthier, Huang said.

" We have preliminary evidence showing benefits of the program in

terms of the school level indices, but we're not able to draw

definitive cause-and-effect conclusions due to insufficient data, "

Huang said.

While the National Institutes of Health is not involved in studying

the school, Huang said there is interest; 17 other Georgia schools

are replicating the Browns Mill program.

Simone , who was a fifth-grader when the school banned sugar,

credits the program with ingraining lifelong lessons about healthy

eating.

" I was one of the heavier students in elementary school, so I really

lost a lot of weight and just became healthier overall with the

changes, " said , who is now a slender junior at Spelman

College. " Kids were hyper, bouncing off the wall and those things

changed. "

- overhauled the school's menu, nutrition program and

vending machines after battling her own weight troubles and surviving

a stroke at 39. When she sought to eliminate sugar from the school,

many resisted and warned her she was endangering her job.

" If we don't do something, we're talking about children that are

probably going to lose their life at some point. We have to take a

stand, " she said.

Schools are now pulling soda from their vending machines and

cafeterias. California schools can sell only water, milk and fruit

and sports drinks that contain a specified amount of sweeteners.

Beverage distributors such as Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola and

PepsiCo have agreed to sell only water, unsweetened juice, and

flavored and unflavored low-fat and fat-free milk at all elementary

and middle schools by the 2009 school year.

Research into the effectiveness of these kinds of interventions in

schools is beginning, but recent studies suggest banning soda at

school has minimal impact.

A study in Maine compared the soda intake between students at high

schools where soda was permitted and schools where it was banned.

Researchers found that reducing soda availability did not decrease

consumption, according to the 2008 study published in the Society for

Nutrition Education.

Another study published this year in the Journal of the American

Dietetic Association found that limiting soft drinks at school

decreased consumption by 4 percent.

Removing junk foods from schools may not eliminate the problem.

What happened in Browns Mill was the result of a number of factors,

said Dr. Moritsugu, former U.S. Surgeon General, who now

chairs the and Diabetes Institute. He credits the

principal for creating " an environment in her school where it became

a normal part of the curriculum to learn about what's important as

far as diet. "

" It really focuses on the children and having the children learn how

to make healthy decisions for themselves, " he said. " Second, it

created an environment within the schools that encouraged the kids to

make those decisions. By having healthier foods, by having physical

education, by having vending machines, that gives the children the

opportunity to make healthy choices. "

Browns Mill fifth-grader Cori Bostic said she would prefer honeydew,

watermelon or cantaloupe to cake anyway.

Wincing slightly, the fifth-grader said, " Junk food makes my stomach

hurt. "

CNN's Matt Sloane contributed to this report.

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/11/sugar.free.school/index.html