Utah children rank in middle of fitness and nutrition scale

Utah children are generally slimmer than those in other states, but they still have unhealthy foods and candy in their elementary schools, according to Child magazine.

In a story that ranked the 50 states from fittest to fattest for kids, the magazine put Utah as No. 21 — neither good nor bad but with plenty to work on, said Karen Cicero, the food and nutrition director for the magazine.

Utah scored points for having an exceptionally low average of children younger than 5 who are overweight — just 8.8 percent, Cicero said, compared to the national average of 14.7 percent. The Beehive State also excelled because school districts are required to offer physical education, and the state recommends at least 90 minutes per week.

The brightest spot in Utah's performance came from the 54.7 percent of mothers who still breast-feed their infants six months after birth, which was the highest in the nation. "That gets kids off to a really great start," Cicero said.

Utah's playgrounds are in worse shape, however. The National Program for Playground Safety gave the state's jungle gyms a "C" for rough edges, broken equipment and missing parts. Also, schools still offer junk food and candy in vending machines and unhealthy options in the lunch line. There is little state law guidance for elementary school nutrition.

"You can't expect a child of that age to say, 'Salad's better for me. I'm going to have salad instead of pizza,' " Cicero said. "They just don't make those choices very well."

Schools throughout the country have hesitated to cut contracts with major vending companies for fear of losing revenue, but Cicero said that fear is unfounded and inexcusable. "There's research that shows that when you replace some of those unhealthy items with something that's better for kids, the sales stay the same," she said.

Also, schools need to replace unhealthy ingredients with lower-fat options. Part-skim mozzarella cheese on pizza or ground turkey for spaghetti sauce keeps favorite meals tasty while lowering the damage they do to children.

Lastly, Child recommends that states require teachers for physical education to have been trained specifically in that field.

"Would you want your math teacher necessarily teaching your child English?" Cicero said. "When you're trained to do something you're generally better at it than when you're sort of trained off the cuff."

The article appeared in the April issue of Child and also can be accessed at www.child.com.

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