Since the Healthy Schools program began as a pilot program at one middle school three years ago, sixth-graders who have taken part in it have lost weight and lowered their blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
The project uses 20-minute lessons, motivational speakers and eye-catching props to teach kids about basic nutrition and encourage exercise. The program is a collaboration between Ann Arbor public schools and the University of Michigan Health System.
The 12-week program, which includes medical screenings OK’ed by parents, now is offered at all five Ann Arbor middle schools. About 1,200 sixth-graders are signed up, and about half of those are part of an ongoing study that’s tracking results and lifestyle changes.
Early survey results are promising.
Forty percent of those studied last year were considered “at-risk” in at least one medical screening category. Thirty-two percent were overweight, 9 percent had high blood pressure and nearly 10 percent had cholesterol levels above 200, a troubling sign at such an early age.
Those numbers belied Ann Arbor’s well-educated, health-conscious image, where the University of Michigan casts a long shadow and many children come from white-collar homes. The results also affirmed a long-standing belief held by the program’s lead organizer.
“We know child obesity is an epidemic, but we never want to believe it’s a problem locally,” said Dr. Kim Eagle, a University of Michigan cardiologist who helped raise $100,000 in donations and public grants to launch the project in 2004.
By last spring, students who were being tracked in the program showed improvement in every medical screening category.
Along with exercise and 20-minute lessons from teachers and the Michigan Health System staff, Ann Arbor middle school students were offered better food choices.
- French fries were replaced with baked potatoes.
- Bacon-double-cheeseburgers, high-fat meat pizzas and foot-long hot dogs were downsized or eliminated.
- Vegetables with dip and a fruit salad bar were added to the daily menu.
- School vending machines now offer water and fruit juice instead of soda.
Making these changes also meant challenging food service contractors whose bottom line relied on high-profit — and high-fat — lunch items.
Susan Aaronson, a university health system dietitian, delivers the program message with props, such as Crisco-filled test tubes representing the amount of fat found in various foods and a plastic model showing the four stages of clogged arteries. She said sixth-graders are a perfect audience.”Until now, they’ve been handed a lunch tray,” she said. “For the first time, they have choices.”
At Clague, some choices include more exercise, especially for sixth-graders who are no longer required to take P.E. after they move into seventh grade.
“I’ve had kids tell me playing their musical instrument is exercise,” said Kim Jackson, 30, a Clague P.E. and health teacher.
She said Clague seventh- and eighth-graders are remembering what they learned in sixth grade. “They know they have to increase their heart rate to get the benefits of exercise.”
Dr. Gary Edelson, an endocrinologist and president of the American Diabetes Association of Michigan, said he thinks the early intervention is a good idea. “If our children learn good habits, they will carry them into adulthood.”
“Now, healthy eating to me is five fruits and vegetables every day and not eating so much junk food,” she said.
That’s a good sign to Eagle, who has seen his share of heart-related deaths, including a woman who died after a heart attack during childbirth. To him, battling child obesity is Job 1.
“I see the future, and it scares me,” said Eagle, who next year plans to expand the project into a second Michigan school district. “We’re hoping to create an army of volunteers who can spread the word about good health.”
Project Healthy Schools: http://projecthealthyschools.org
