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New York, NY – The Alliance for a Healthier Generation – a joint initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association has worked with representatives of Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and the American Beverage Association to establish new guidelines to limit portion sizes and reduce the number of calories available to children during the school day. Under these guidelines, only lower calorie and nutritious beverages will be sold to schools. This is the Alliance’s first industry agreement as part of its Healthy Schools Program, and it affects close to 35 million students across the country.
By Daniel Trotta, Wed. May 3, 3:01 PM ET
The U.S. beverage industry has agreed to fight child obesity by cutting calories and shrinking the serving sizes of drinks sold at schools in a deal brokered by self-described former "fat kid" Bill Clinton.
Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Cadbury Schweppes and the American Beverage Association volunteered for the program that will ban some of their best-selling products from a market of 35 million U.S. public school children.
Under the plan unveiled on Wednesday at Clinton's New York-based foundation, the number of calories in school beverages will be capped at 100 except for certain milks and juices. By comparison, a can of regular Coca-Cola has 140 calories.
"Today is significant much like it was when Roger Bannister ran a four-minute mile or when the sound barrier was broken. Many did it later but somebody had to do it first," said Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has joined Clinton's campaign against child obesity and battled chronic obesity himself.
Since 1980, obesity rates have tripled among adolescents aged 13 to 17 and doubled among younger children, according to a federal government report issued on Tuesday. An estimated 16 percent of children aged 6 to 19 are obese, it said.
Clinton illustrated how the program could help, saying an 8-year-old who cuts 45 calories a day from his diet would be 20 pounds (9 kg) lighter by the time he or she graduates from high school.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 19, 2007
MEDIA CONTACTS:
American Heart Association- Meredith Isola, 301-535-7241
Clinton Foundation- Ben Yarrow, 212-348-0360
Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger- Aaron McLear, 916-445-4571
President Clinton, Governor Schwarzenegger, American Heart Association President Visit Students and Staff at Columbia Middle School to Showcase Healthy Schools Program Leadership of Alliance for a Healthier Generation also Announces Nationwide Governor’s Challenge to Showcase California as a model and Increase School Participation in Healthy Schools Program
Los Angeles, CA - Former President Bill Clinton, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and American Heart Association President Dan Jones visited a California school today that has been nationally recognized for creating a healthier school environment for staff and students. The former president and governor along with the American Heart Association president are leaders of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation, which was created in 2005 to fight the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States.
“Thanks to the leadership at this school, and so many others across the country, students are being given the opportunity to take a critical step forward in learning how to live healthier lives,” said President Clinton. “We know that reducing or eliminating childhood obesity comes down to a very simple formula: helping children reduce the number of calories they consume and increase the number of calories they burn. Here in California, under the Governor's leadership, you have been committed to making this happen in your schools. When schools like this give students the tools they need to lead a healthier lifestyle, they are helping them make an invaluable investment in their future.”
"Initiatives like the Alliance for a Healthier Generation are providing the framework for a healthier America. I am thrilled to join with President Clinton and the American Heart Association because in California we are already doing everything the Alliance supports," said Gov. Schwarzenegger. "The foundation for a healthy lifetime is built in the habits we learn as youth. They give us the strength and the confidence to achieve more, to feel better and to succeed. These healthy habits can help give our children the future they deserve."
“The hard work and dedication of the students, teachers and parents at Columbia Middle School is making a difference,” said Daniel W. Jones, M.D., FAHA, president of the American Heart Association. “We are here to celebrate their accomplishments and all of the positive changes they have made. They have demonstrated the powerful impact that teachers, students, staff and parents can achieve by working as a team and making their school a healthier place to learn and grow.”
With California already leading the way in working to prevent childhood obesity, Governor Schwarzenegger today issued the Governors’ Challenge for a Healthier Generation, to encourage other Governors across the country to enroll the highest percentage of schools of any state across the nation in the Alliance's Healthy Schools Program. The Governor’s Challenge provides a mechanism for Governors to pledge their commitment to building healthier school environments and draw attention to a free and comprehensive resource available to all schools – public, private, and parochial – that helps them implement programs and policies that promote healthy eating and physical activity among students and staff. Governor Schwarzenegger was named a co-lead of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation in May 2007.
Columbia Middle School is one of 26 schools from across the country to achieve Bronze Level Recognition this past August by the Alliance's Healthy Schools Program. During its first year in the Healthy Schools Program, Columbia Middle School started a parent advisory group to advise school food service on how to make the school meal offerings appropriate for the cultural and dietary needs of students. As a result, the school has significantly increased their fruit, vegetable and fresh fish offerings in the cafeteria. To date, 92 percent of all California schools participating in the program made measurable progress in changing the health of their school environments.
In addition to Columbia Middle School, Columbia Elementary School and Roosevelt Middle School in the Orosi Unified School District were also awarded Bronze Level recognition in August.
About the Alliance for a Healthier Generation
The William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association partnered in May of 2005 to create a new generation of healthy Americans by addressing one of the nation’s leading public health threats – childhood obesity. The goal of the Alliance is to stop the nationwide increase in childhood obesity by 2010, and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices. The Alliance will positively affect the places that can make a difference to a child’s health: homes, schools, restaurants, doctor’s offices and communities. For more information on the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, please visit: www.HealthierGeneration.org
Highlights Work of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation
February 28, 2006 Washington, DC
President Bill Clinton delivered the closing address at the National Governors Association’s Winter Meeting today. During his remarks, President Clinton urged America’s governors to take an active role in preventing childhood obesity, while warning of the serious dangers of not addressing this rising epidemic, including skyrocketing healthcare costs. He also discussed his Foundation’s work on the issue with the American Heart Association and expressed his hope that governors would work with his Alliance for a Healthier Generation.
“Nine million children and adolescents are overweight today,” said President Clinton. “These children have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults. Not only does this pose a great health risk, but it also carries economic consequences, as obesity-related healthcare costs for young people continue to rise and show no sign of declining. We must act now to stop and reverse this deadly trend. If we do not, today’s generation of young people could be the first generation of Americans to have shorter life expectancies than their parents.”
“Four million obese children are Medicaid beneficiaries. Obesity-related hospital costs for children and youth have tripled over the past two decades, from $35 million in 1981 to $127 million in 1999. a 2004 Emory University study found that rising obesity rates alone accounted for 27% of the growth in health spending between 1987—2001.”
President Clinton also cited a recent study published in Health Affairs which found that the United States will spend more than $4 trillion on health care by 2015, with the government splitting the costs with consumers. If this trend persists, national health care spending will outpace the projected average annual GDP growth by 2.1 percent over the next ten years.
In May of 2005, the Clinton Foundation joined forces with the American Heart Association to create the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a partnership dedicated to addressing the public health threat of childhood obesity. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee serves as a co-chair of the Alliance, and has dedicated his term as NGA Chairman to the Healthy America Initiative to examine ways in which governors and policymakers can better collaborate with the public and private sector to promote healthy living programs and support prevention and wellness-related state policies.
“Childhood obesity is something we can reverse,” Clinton concluded. “My Foundation, along with Governor Huckabee and the American Heart Association, is working hard on this issue and I am confident that with your help, we will succeed in creating a healthier generation of Americans.” “To achieve our goals, we are creating a national recognition program shining a spotlight on schools who have taken concrete and innovative steps to create healthier learning environments for children and healthier work environments for their staff,” Clinton explained about the Alliance’s Healthy Schools Initiative. “Schools will be evaluated based on four criteria: improving the nutritional value of food served in and out of cafeterias; increasing access to physical activity during the school day and after school; implementing curricula on healthy living; and providing staff wellness programs. The schools will be able to achieve bronze, silver and gold level recognition, with especially innovative schools receiving exemplary recognition.”
The Alliance will also negotiate deals with industry leaders to provide packages of healthy menu items at a price point schools can afford. Currently, one in six school districts have outsourced their cafeterias to full-service caterers that charge a premium for healthier offerings. The Alliance also plans to work to create buying clubs, so schools can come together and get more purchasing power and better deals. Finally, the Alliance will negotiate with snack and beverage companies to improve the nutritional content of vending machines and make healthier vending machines economically
viable for both schools and companies.
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