Fat Children Cost U.S. Schools Money, More - Report

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.p...st_item&id=270

Maggie Fox, "Fat Children Cost U.S. Schools Money, More - Report",
Reuters UK, September 23, 2004,
Link: http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle... section=news

Obese children are costing U.S. schools millions of dollars every year
in lost funding and may be lowering test scores as well, a report
released by a former U.S. surgeon general said on Thursday.

It urges schools, along with parents, to get kids moving and improve
their nutrition.

"Schools have the unique opportunity, even the responsibility, to
teach and model healthful eating and physical activity, both in theory
and in practice," said Dr. David Satcher, a former U.S. surgeon
general who helped found a nonprofit group called Action for Healthy
Kids.

"Improving children's health likely improves school performance, and
it may even help a school's bottom line. Therefore, schools have a
vested interest in improving the nutrition and increasing the physical
activity of their students," added Satcher, who served as surgeon
general from 1998 to 2002.

The group reviewed several studies to find evidence linking fat,
malnourished children with poor grades.

They found, for example, that:

-- Schools with high percentages of students who did not regularly
exercise or eat well had smaller gains in test scores than did other
schools.

-- Children who do not get the recommended basic vitamins and minerals
have lower test scores, are absent more, have difficulty concentrating
and have less energy.

-- Physical activity programs are linked to increased concentration
and improved math, reading, and writing test scores.

-- Students taking daily physical education classes missed fewer
classes, had a more positive attitude to school and earned better
grades.

"The majority of American youth are sedentary and do not eat well,"
the report says.

"These unhealthful practices can lead to learning problems in school
and health-related problems that may begin during school-age years and
continue into adulthood."

The percentage of U.S. children who are overweight has tripled since
1980 to 16 percent, or 9 million, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.

Not only do they risk early heart disease, diabetes and cancer, but
their learning can be affected, too, the report says.

"One study found that severely overweight students miss, on average,
one day per month or nine days per year, and that absenteeism rates
among these students are six times higher than for their
non-overweight peers," the report reads.

ATTENDANCE, STATE FUNDING

The report made an estimate of the potential impact of poor nutrition,
physical inactivity, and weight problems on attendance, and thus on
school funding.

Some states use attendance to help determine state funding for
schools, and a single-day absence by one student costs anywhere
between $9 and $20.

"Using an estimate of the rate of absenteeism among overweight
students, combined with an average prevalence of overweight students,
this may lead to a potential loss of state aid of $95,000 per year in
an average-sized school district in Texas, and $160,000 per year in an
average-sized California school district," the report reads.

"The loss in large cities is likely to be much higher; for example,
New York City could lose about $28 million each year, while Chicago
could forfeit an estimated $9 million and Los Angeles an estimated $15
million."

Other costs include extra staff time to help troubled students as well
as time needed to give drugs to children with chronic weight- and
nutrition-related illnesses.

"Schools cannot afford to act as if student health is somebody else's
problem," said the Action for Healthy Kids' Gene Carter.