According to a report recently issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than 10 percent of high school students eat the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables (To see how teens in your state stack up, click here).  Since the daily recommended two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables have many well-documented health benefits, including weight management, this statistic is particularly troubling as youth obesity has become so prevalent.

The CDC report offered some environmental indicators that contribute to what it labeled as “poor” teen diets, including the availability of healthier food retail in communities and the availability of healthier foods and nutrition services in schools. Looking at these indicators, it is not difficult to see why obesity is more prevalent among lower income populations. In lower-income communities where there is a scarcity of supermarket chains, many teens and their families shop at the corner store, which often charges an extra dollar for a gallon of milk[1] and lacks fresh produce.  Furthermore, many high schools, especially in low-income areas, do not provide particularly healthy food options. In the poorest of neighborhoods, it is not uncommon for schools to provide both free breakfast and lunch, but these free meals are not necessarily the most nutritious, and are often laced with preservatives and unappealing fruits and vegetables.

Think back to your own high school days where the fruits and vegetables the school served were probably watery, limp green beans or syrupy canned peaches! If fruits and vegetables are prohibitively expensive, inaccessible, or simply not fresh, is it any wonder that teens, especially in low-income areas, aren’t getting their recommended daily amounts? As Heidi Blanck, a senior scientist at the CDC said, “This is a call for states, communities, schools and families to support increased fruit and vegetable consumption.”[2] And indeed, all of those partners have to work together to increase the availability of healthy food options in communities and schools to not only prevent youth obesity, but also to build the healthy eating habits that youth can carry with them into adulthood.

1] Brown, DeNeen L. “Poor? Pay Up.” Washington Post 18 May 2009 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/17/AR2009051702053.html.

[2] “CDC Study Details Teens’ ‘Poor’ Diets.” Express.  30 September 2009:6

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Tags: center for disease control, childhood obesity, children, fruit, kara winerman, men, vegetables, women

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