A statewide survey shows that middle schoolers eat poorly, don't exercise and have weight worries.
By LISA GREENE
Published November 13, 2003
[Times photo: Willie J. Allen Jr.]
Alex Houyou, left, and Katie Livermore enjoy some candy at Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg. The friends attend Osceola Middle School in Seminole.
ST. PETERSBURG - Sixth-grader Ariana Simonetti licked her double scoop ice cream cone at the mall food court Wednesday afternoon, surrounded by Chick-fil-A and China Max, and figured she eats fast food twice a week.
In Hillsborough thirteen-year-old Sarah Morrissey said kids have so many junk food options at school - from the soda machine to the snack machine, the french fries to the fried chicken strips - that the stuff is hard to escape.
The Coleman Middle School student gripped a Strawberry Shortcake Bar purchased from the ice cream vendor who greets the students as they leave every day and tried to convince her friend, Sydney Eastman, 13, that it wasn't all junk. "There's strawberries in it!" she said.
Sydney rolled her eyes. Then she took a gulp of her Coke.
A first-time survey says half of Florida's middle schoolers are just like her.
That's not all: middle school students listed a litany of poor health habits in the state survey, released Wednesday. Most kids watch more than two hours of TV each school day and many get no exercise in school.
And the sedentary habits are having a common consequence. More than half the girls and a third of the boys surveyed are trying to lose weight.
The answers were far worse than what Dr. John O. Agwunobi, secretary of the Florida Department of Health, expected.
"I was actually quite shocked," Agwunobi said. "It just blows me away every time I see the numbers."
What bothers Agwunobi most: the high number of adolescents reporting unhealthy habits at home. More than 76 percent of teens reported having a TV in their rooms. And 78 percent said they watched TV, played video games or used a computer for fun for at least three hours on an average school day.
"That's sedentary living, by its definition," Agwunobi said. "This clearly . . . has major implications for the ways we're bringing up and nurturing our children in the home."
This is the first time Florida's health department has surveyed middle schoolers on nutrition and fitness topics. Surveyers interviewed 4,452 youths, most between 12 and 14 years old.
Ariana, who attends Meadowlawn Middle School, had mixed feelings about Agwunobi's concerns.
"I think he's probably right," she said at Tyrone Square Mall. "A lot of my friends eat a lot of candy and junk food."
But slender Ariana said most of her friends are active teens who burn off the calories through cheerleading or other activities.
"And I eat fruit every day," she added. "It's my favorite food."
Osceola Middle School students Katie Livermore, 14, and friend Alex Houyou, 13, were snacking Wednesday on Airheads Xtremes candy - Katie with watermelon and Alex with blue raspberry.
They said their daily diet is healthier, but they indulge every now and then.
"A lot of the times I eat salad," Katie said. "I usually eat healthy, but I just need junk food sometimes. I can't live without it."
"Same here," agreed Alex.
The survey also said that middle schoolers' health habits are linked to achievement. Students getting mostly C's or below were more likely to say they get no exercise.
Agwunobi is worried about the implications for the future, as today's teens become adults.
"We have a major problem . . . that inevitably leads to a much sicker generation of Floridians if we don't do something about it now," he said.
Many students surveyed seemed conscious about their weight. Forty-two percent - 51 percent of girls and 34 percent of boys - said they were trying to lose weight.
But what was less clear was whether all those students needed to do so, since a lower number said they are overweight.
It also appears that students may not know enough about healthy eating habits. Most said they didn't eat enough fruits and vegetables, and few could say how much they should eat. Only 47 percent eat breakfast every day.
The survey results coincide with increased state attention to obesity and health. Agwunobi announced the survey results Wednesday at a meeting of the Governor's Task Force on the Obesity Epidemic.
Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah, a Broward County cardiologist who is chairman of the task force, said the group will spend more time studying how to help children become healthier.
"This is some very alarming information," Zachariah said. "Of course we knew that kids today watch more TV than years ago . . . but it makes you rethink what you already know."
Agwunobi said the task force will need to spend more time discussing how schools address health habits.
He said it's "very troubling" that 40 percent said they get no physical education at school, though he was reassured that 45 percent of children have physical education five days a week.
"What I learned is that this is a comprehensive problem that reaches across the whole spectrum of children's lives," he said. "There will be no single solution."
Jennifer Baldwin munched on an apple as she waited in her car for her son, 12-year-old Hannibal, to get out of Coleman Middle School. A crowd had already gathered at the ice cream truck, directly in front of the gym.
"He doesn't need any more sugar," said Baldwin, who packs her son a healthy lunch, including at least one piece of fruit, each day.
Hannibal walked up to his mom's car, sipping a Pepsi.
She doesn't give Hannibal any money for snacks, but he bums off friends.
"I don't get any soda at home," he said.
- Times staff writer Dong-Phuong Nguyen contributed to this report.
Middle schoolers: a diet of burgers and TV
In a new survey, Florida middle schoolers report spending more time watching TV than exercising and eating too much junk food and not enough fruits and vegetables:
35 percent of students said they have access to fast food at school.
40 percent said they don't have any physical education at school during an average week.
45 percent said they have physical education five days a week at school.
Kids reporting lower grades were less likely to be physically active.
67 percent said they watched two or more hours of TV on an average school day.
22 percent describe themselves as slightly overweight; 3 percent as very overweight.
23 percent said they eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
18 percent knew that experts recommend eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
Source: Florida Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey
