A farewell to fizz from LA lunchrooms

Like a grease fire at a Labor Day barbecue, the national "fat vs. fit" wars are flaring up – this time in school hallways and cafeterias.

With public schools set to open en masse next week, the biggest back-to-campus issues aren't books, teachers, and classes, but rather sugar, soda, and fat.

Following recent studies showing the number of overweight American youth has doubled since 1980, the Los Angeles Unified School District – the nation's second largest – decided this week to ban the sale of soft drinks at its 677 schools starting in 2004.

The move is being hailed by many health experts, but is also raising questions about whether such top-down mandates can win this battle of the bulge. Soda, candy, and chips are so ubiquitous in convenience stores and kitchen cupboards that the choice to consume less rests largely with kids themselves. Moreover, some observers say the problem is not sedentary lifestyles but too much junk food.

Amid this debate, the decision facing districts such as Los Angeles is what emphasis to place on cafeteria policies, alongside nutrition education and other efforts.

"This is a watershed event in what has become a serious national problem," says Dr. Harold Goldstein, director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy. Quoting studies that show sugary soft drinks are the largest source of unrefined sugar in kids' diets, Goldstein says, "If LAUSD can get rid of sodas against all the pressure, every district in the country can do so. They've set the high-water mark."

The soft drink ban is the boldest yet by a school board to curb a national trend: 61 percent of adults are overweight.

The statistic is raising concern among educators, doctors, and nutritionists across the country, many of whom will come together to discuss the problem at the nation's first Healthy Schools Summit in Washington this October.

Meanwhile, proponents of the LA plan see it as leading the way for schools nationwide. But soft-drink manufacturers are fizzing over being unfairly singled out as lone culprits in a dietary and health phenomenon they say is far more complex than sugary drinks.

And both sides worry how money-strapped school officials will replace the funds they make from lucrative contracts with major soft-drink companies. In Phoenix, where districts use the proceeds of soft-drink sales to fund everything from band uniforms to sports equipment, school officials have said they can't afford to consider a move like that of LA's.

Los Angeles officials agreed to the plan after years of hesitation. The deciding factor: a local university study showing 40 percent in 14 LAUSD schools were obese.

By 2004, all cafeterias, student stores, and vending machines in the 760,000-student district will offer only water, milk and beverages that contain at least 50 percent juice and no added sweeteners.

soft-drink manufacturers and other opponents of the plan say getting rid of soft drinks on campuses – whose sales now net $4.5 million per year for the LAUSD – will do little to affect the obesity problems now affecting growing numbers of Americans.

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