Alaskan obesity numbers grow

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - It's well documented that Americans are getting fatter and fatter with every passing year and Alaska is no exception.

Kathy Walker, the nutrition services supervisor for the Mat-Su Borough School District, is concerned that obesity trends for adults are being reflected in their school-age kids.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, in 1991, between 10 and 14 percent of Alaskan adults were at least 30 pounds overweight. That number jumped to between 20 and 24 percent by 2003 and the trend points to greater expansion in future years.

Walker, who began working for the school district just nine months ago, is in charge of deciding what types of food go into student meals. She said she is assessing all food sold in school in an attempt to create healthier choices for students.

Before coming to Alaska, Walker worked with schools in Wisconsin to try and offer healthier meal options. She said salad bars were a hit there, even in elementary schools, and she would like to offer something similar in the Mat-Su.

"Our kids deserve fresh produce," Walker said in an interview Thursday. "I'm trying to see how to get locally grown produce in the schools."

In a report to the Mat-Su Borough School Board, Feb. 16, Walker said many kids are not eating the foods recommended by the food pyramid. According to the CDC, Walker said 51 percent of school-age children eat less than one serving of fruits and vegetables and teen-agers are now drinking two times as many carbonated beverages as milk.

"We are definitely in a public health crisis," she told the school board. "Children are not getting enough exercise, they are eating too many calories and they're eating too many wrong types of food."

While the causes of obesity are often simple, Walker said the solutions vary. Parents, teachers, activities programs and the students themselves have a role to play, she said.

"Twenty years ago, kids played outside," Walker said. "Kids are more indoors now with more TV, more video games, more computers. We're just not in balance."

School vending machines are another concern. Individual schools often contract with vending companies to raise funds for student activities. According to Mat-Su Borough School District information specialist Kim Floyd, some schools have brought in as much as $40,000 a year through vending machine contracts. But the high-calorie, high-sugar content of most items is something Walker would like to see change.

"I believe that we need to look at everything that is sold in the schools," she said. "The obesity epidemic will not change if we are not all part of the solution. Are we trying to make money though fund-raisers or are we about nutrition?"

Vending machines could offer milk, water and other healthy items, Walker said, along with non-food items.

"We do need the fund-raising, but there are healthier choices," she said.

There are some signs that Mat-Su students have increased their nutrition awareness. Walker said she's noticed more students choosing to eat fruits and vegetables.

"I do think there are a growing number of students that realize that it is important to eat healthy," she said.

Walker also said she is also encouraged by the number of healthy recreation activities available in the Valley.

"It seems like every new road has a trail built next to it and one of the best exercises is to just get out and walk."

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.