5140.0: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 - 12:45 PM

Abstract #28314

Advocating for policies on healthy eating in California schools

Erika Takada, MPH1, Amanda Purcell, MPH1, Victoria Berends, BS1, and Peggy Agron, MA, RD2. (1) Public Health Institute, California Project LEAN (Leaders Encouraging Activity and Nutrition), 601 N. 7th Street, P.O. Box 942732, MS-675, Sacramento, CA 94234-7320, 916-445-3510, etakada@dhs.ca.gov, (2) California State Department of Health Services, California Project LEAN (Leaders Encouraging Activity and Nutrition), P.O. Box 942732, MS-675, Sacramento, CA 94234-7320

California Project LEAN’s Food on the Run program is a multi-component high school-based intervention program to promote healthy eating and physical activity among adolescents. One of the program’s main goals is to advance policy and environmental changes to promote healthy eating and physical activity options in the school and surrounding community. California Project LEAN believes that policy and environmental change, in tandem with public and professional education is necessary to stem the obesity epidemic and the incidence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, and some cancers. This session will demonstrate multiple efforts, to date, on active research and advocacy for specific policies on healthy eating in California schools, and their subsequent outcomes. These efforts include: - mobilizing a community to confront exclusive soda pouring rights - using a social marketing approach to influence key school decision makers to enact policies that support healthy eating - developing nutrition standards for competitive foods that can be adopted and implemented - understanding school food finance issues in California - influencing state legislature to take action on statewide healthy eating policies in public schools. Each presentation will detail the process and/or methodology that led to its outcome, and their implications for future action. See www.dhs.ca.gov/lean

Learning Objectives: Attendees will: - Understand the complexities of each issue related to healthy eating in public schools. - Learn the effectiveness of detailed research and advocating for specific issues to achieving desired policy outcomes. - Learn the important relationship between policy change and behavior change.

Keywords: Advocacy, Children and Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.

The 129th Annual Meeting of APHA