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Show Don't let them eat cake; schools ban b-day treats children born in 2000 will eventually develop a form For AP Weekly Features of diabetes linked to being overweight. Birthdays are becoming One recent study says lessons in counting calories school snack fests may play along with candles for thousands of kids heading back to a role: A survey of 3,000 Minneapolis-area eighthschool this fall. graders found that their A growing number of average body-mass index — a schools nationwide are curcommon gauge of weight tailing or cutting out birthappropriateness — rose 10 day sweets in the name of nutrition and weight control. percent with every form of noshing a school allowed, Others are concerned about from fundraising bake sales food allergies and contamination. Some also argue that to congratulatory pizza parties. birthday parties eat up class time. Against those kinds of statistics, Congress has declared It's a controversial topic, that schools must establish as local districts debate whether such policies protect wellness policies by the start of this school year in order the health of their children or if they needlessly destroy a to continue receiving various forms of funding, forcing longtime childhood ritual. schools to look at all their "There's no question that food policies. it's an issue out there," says Erik Peterson, a spokesman There's no complete tally, for the School Nutrition but a recent School Nutrition Association, a national group Association study of the of school-food directors. " nation's 100 biggest public ...But no one wants to be the school systems found that food police." more than 60 percent now have dietary guidelines or The federal Centers rules about classroom parfor Disease Control and Prevention estimate that one ties. They generally apply only during the school day. in six school-age children is overweight, triple the proporSome examples: tion in 1980. The agency has —Alabama public schools projected that one in three now ban any birthday treat BY JENNIFER PELTZ that lists sugar or high-fructose corn syrup as its first ingredient. —New rules in Ogden, Utah, say public-school party food must meet dietary standards that limit sugar, fat and salt, though health administrator Mitch Wilcox says the requirements are aimed at teachers more than parents, for now. —In Howard County, Md., a new policy limits sugary celebrations to once a month at public schools, and even specifies that home-baked cakes and cookies cannot be cream-filled. At least one Howard County school, Centennial Lane Elementary, already bans birthday feasts entirely. So does Chandler School in Duxbury, Mass., where students now get a birthday sash, chair cover, sticker and pencil instead of sweets. —Many more school systems — from Fresno Calif., to Bow, N.H. — discourage junk-food birthday feasts, with varying degrees of force. Some parents applaud the idea, saying school parties have become semi-regular blowouts instead of occasional treats. "If we're trying to send a Obesity rates continue to climb healthy message to the children on what's good to eat and we're having parties that are happening a couple of times a week or on a weekly basis, then I think that's not sending the best message," says Rhonda Avery of Lakeland, Fla. Avery, a mother of three and registered dietitian, helped shape new birthday rules in central Florida's Polk County. As of last month, parties during school are limited to an average of once a month, unless the menu meets detailed new nutrition standards. Cupcakes with frosting? Try celery sticks with peanut butter. Candy? Well, maybe soy nuts. But other parents have mixed feelings about cracking down on birthday cake and cupcakes, which have been fixtures of classroom parties long enough for many parents to remember their own. The modern layered, elaborate birthday cake dates to the mid-19th century, when the advent of cookstoves and baking powder enabled home cooks to turn out impressive confections, says food historian Barbara Haber, the author of "From Hardtack to Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia and Louisiana led states with the highest percentage of obese adults. Percentage of obese adults, 2003-05 16-18 19-21 22-24 25-27 28 and more Lowest percentage Colorado: 16.9% Highest percentage Mississippi: 29.5% AP SOURCE: Trust for America's Health Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks and Meals." Precursors of birthday cake can be traced to medieval Europe or even ancient Greece. Tennessee mom Susie Van Etten wonders whether schools are "emphasizing food to the point that they're going to give the kids a complex about food." Still, she supports new rules on the frequency and amount of birthday sweets at her 5- year-old daughter's school, West Cheatham Elementary, and hopes the restrictions won't harden into an all-out ban. "I believe in 'everything in moderation'... I do think that (kids) should be allowed to have a cupcake on their birthday," says Van Etten, a former restaurant manager who lives in Chapmansboro. "I don't think a child wants a pencil." Some parents are Waistlines continue to grow in U.S.;Mississippi on top... er, ah, bottom BY KEVIN FREKING Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - T h e gravy train - make that the sausage, biscuits and gravy train -just kept on rolling in most of America last year, with 31 states showing an increase in obesity. Mississippi continued to lead the way. An estimated 29.5 percent of adults there are considered obese. That's an increase of 1.1 percentage points when compared with last year's report, which is compiled by Trust for America's Health, an advocacy group that promotes increased funding for public health programs. Meanwhile, Colorado remains the leanest state. About 16.9 percent of its adults are considered obese. That mark was also up slightly from last year's report, but not enough to be considered statistically significant. The only state that experienced a decrease in the percentage of obese adults last year was Nevada. "Obesity now exceeds 25 percent in 13 states, which should sound some serious alarm bells," said Dr. Jeff Levi, executive director of the advocacy group. Health officials warn that a high incidence of obesity in a particular state doesn't mean it treats the issue less seriously than others. States have different challenges to contend with when it comes to obesity, said Dr. Janet Collins of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Populations are not equal in terms of experiencing these health problems," Collins said. "Low-income populations tend to experience all the health problems we worry about at greater rates." Indeed, the five states with the highest obesity rates - Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky - exhibit much higher rates of poverty than the national norm. Meanwhile, the five states with the lowest obesity have less poverty. They are Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont. _ w ;,. - . v* ,-.v The leanest states shouldn't take a whole lot of comfort in their ranking, though, said Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, a former CDC director. "This epidemic is a nationwide epidemic. • MOVIES From page 27 heavily marketed summer movies that enjoyed few reviewer and audience recommendations. The tale of an unconventional family racing across the Southwest to make a kiddie beauty pageant, "Little Miss Sunshine" has thus far grossed $13.4 million, earning the highest per-theater average among all of the weekend's Top 10 films. The road movie will more than double its release this weekend, moving intol,400 locations. Twenty years ago, the top box-office hits averaged taking in only 12 percent of their total theatrical returns on their opening weekends. So far this year, first-weekend sales make up nearly a third of total sales, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Although the percentage of total tickets sold in the first weekend is more modest for highbrow releases, there's no doubt sales for those films can accelerate faster than ever. The wrong kind of word of mouth can be deviastating. When Sony released "Monster House" earlier this summer, the animated movie collected some of the season's best reviews and opened to a respectable $22.2 million. But in its second weekend, the film slipped nearly 48 percent. Sony believes the sharp drop-off was largely attributable to parents' telling other parents that "Monster House" was too intense for small children. Thanks to that don't-dare-take-your-6year-old advice, the film collapsed more than 40 percent the next three weekends, and was soon history. "Instant communications technology has completely changed the role of word of mouth," says Nancy Utley, chief operating officer for "Little Miss Sunshine" distributor Fox Searchlight. "Word of mouth used to be confined to cities. Now, thanks to e-mail, it crosses continents. It's revolutionized what word of mouth means." Fox Searchlight certainly has helped magnify the film's profile with progressively ubiquitous ads and promotions featuring a bright yellow color scheme. In a recent Los Angeles Times poll on the moviegoing habits of teens and young adults, 38 percent of those surveyed said they share their opinions about a movie during or right after the film or on the same day. That kind of immediate national consensus spelled a quick finish to a number of recent movies that were released without being shown to film reviewers, including "Zoom" and "Pulse." But what's bad news for these middlebrow duds may be a boon to ntovie lovers. Since word of mouth helps good movies while punishing weaker ones, it may result in a new Hollywood emphasis on playability — a film's intrinsic quality — instead of marketability, the easy sales hooks that yield so Some some states are higher, some populations have it higher, but the trend has been up in every state, the trend has been up for every ethnic group, the trend has been up for rich and poor," Koplan said. The group's estimate of obesity rates is based on a three-year average, 2003-2005. The data comes from an annual random sampling of adults via the telephone. The information is designed to help the government measure behavioral risks among adults. The government equates obesity with a body mass index, or BMI, of at least 30. Someone who is 5-feet-4 would have to weigh 175 pounds to reach that threshold. The index is calculated by dividing a person's weight in pounds by his height in inches, squared, and multiplying that total by 703. For some people, particularly athletes who exercise a great deal, the BMI index could show them as being obese when in .;fact they are in excellent physical condition. Trust for America's Health made scores of recommendations for reducing obesity. For example: -Employers should offer their workers many forgettable sequels and remakes. "It's kind of like a return to the 1970s," says Jeff Blake, the vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, "when word of mouth meant everything." Of course, playability hardly comes easily. An effective word-of-mouth effort requires hours of unglamorous work staging screenings for groups such as the YMCA, the Sierra Club and AARP, and creative, unconventional thinking, like dragging Al Gore to meet with executives at WalMart to secure better placement for the film's DVD. One glimpse of movies in the works — "Shrek the Third," the "Fantastic Four" sequel, "Rush Hour 3," "Ocean's Thirteen" — also shows that studios are as benefits that help them stay healthy, such as nutrition counseling and subsidized health club memberships. -The government should mandate routine screenings that measure the fitness of Medicaid beneficiaries, plus subsidize or reimburse them for participating in exercise and fitness programs. -At the local level, governments should approve zoning and land use laws that give people more chances to walk or bike to the store or to work. Local governments also should set aside more funding for sidewalks. The group also makes recommendations for individuals. But the recommendations that people eat well and exercise are known to Americans. And clearly, many just don't care to follow. Collins said tobacco use is another area that could be labeled a personal choice, but government agencies have taken many steps to provide people with the environment and information, they need to help them make • WAISTLINE see page 3 7 interested in marketability as originality. But if there's one thing Hollywood loves more than anything, it's fat profit margins, and although some sequels make handfuls of money, they invariably cost a fortune to produce and an almost equal sum to market. Although Fox Searchlight won't predict how many tickets "Little Miss Sunshine" may eventually sell, the company has run internal comparisons to several recent word-of-mouth successes and has found that the comedy is outpacing the breakouts "March of the Penguins," "Napoleon Dynamite," "Garden State" and "The Full Monty." People who worked on "Little Miss Sunshine" say peer recommendations have even greater power these days because moviegoers are being turned off by the wall-to-wall marketing campaigns that accompany most studio releases. "People seem to be saying that they'd rather have the court of public opinion help make their decisions about what to see rather than the marketing department," says another of the film's producers, Marc Turtletaub, who personally bankrolled the $8 million "Little Miss Sunshine," which sold at this year's Sundance Film Festival for a record $10.5 million. "There is also a satisfaction in discovering movies themselves, that you can come to the film rather than have the movie forced on you." Career Services Calendar of Events Oct. 11 -- Graduate School Fair, Sunburst Lounge Oct. 26 -- Tech Expo, Engineering/Science/ BIS/Computer Science, Sunburst Lounge Jan. 11 -- MBA Pair, Salt Lake City March 7 -- Annual Career Pair, 2nd Floor, TSC-USU March 8 -- Teacher Fair, U of U, SLC $4.99 nmis 03 1.J006 ifc,Great Clips for hair (L Great Clips for hair;- Watch The Statesman for more information on fairs and activities to come. See us at Career Services, University Inn 102. |
