Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #115406

Annie S. Vargas, MPH¹, Gail M. Woodward-Lopez, MPH, RD¹, Sarah Kim¹, J. Lewis, MA, RD², Patricia B. Crawford, DrPH, RD³, and Phyllis Bramson-Paul, MPPA⁴. (1) Center for Weight and Health, University of California, Berkeley, 3 Giannini Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3100, 510-643-0312, avargas@nature.berkeley.edu, (2) California Department of Education, Nutrition Services Division, 1430 N Street, Suite 1500, Sacramento, CA 945814-5901, (3) Department of Nutritional Sciences and Center for Weight and Health, University of California, Berkeley, 9 Morgan Hall, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3104, (4) California Department of Education, Director, Nutrition Services Division, 270 J St., Suite 270, Sacramento, CA 95814

Schools across the nation are being called upon to respond to the child obesity epidemic by improving their nutrition and physical activity environments. Of particular concern are those foods and beverages sold in vending machines, student stores, food service a la cart and other fundraisers. These foods and beverages have historically been of poor nutritional value and compete with more nutritious school meals. Fifty in-depth interviews were conducted with school administrators, food service directors, athletic program directors, student store teacher advisors and others involved in the sale of competitive foods in order to determine successes, challenges, and lessons learned in their attempts to provide more healthy fare and still generate funds needed to support their programs. The 10 districts were chosen from 35 districts that had participated in a previous survey and were selected to ensure diversity in terms of the extent to which they limit competitive foods, district size, location and composition of the student body. The findings show that different stakeholders approach the issue of food and beverage sales from very different perspectives, priorities, and concerns. There were many factors that influenced the degree to which different stakeholders were willing to accept and comply with restrictions. Success was largely dependent on the degree of support by the superintendent, school board and food service director and their willingness to take a leadership role and enforce policies. Enforcement strategies, the influence of external and internal factors, the conditions and support that are needed for success are identified.

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