Why Vending Machines in Schools Need Parental Supervision

Vending machines in schools may be a necessary evil, particularly during a recession when budgets are tight. After all, the money is used to fund field trips and new band uniforms, after-school programs, and supplies for classrooms. But at what cost to the students feasting on their unhealthy offerings? "The schools and Big Food have the same interest in selling junk to kids, to make money," says Ayala Laufer-Cahana, MD, a pediatrician in Philadelphia and the author of a blog on childhood nutrition called Healthy Food & Healthy Living. "It's not because the kids are hungry."

Although a number of school districts have started requiring that vending machines offer healthier foods, many students are still consuming too many calories and too much sugar from these little moneymakers, according to a new study in the Journal of School Nutrition. The study found that one out of five students eats from vending machines in schools on the average day. And, because schools are falling behind in nutrition education, it's up to parents to teach them why that's bad.

The truth about sugar and school soda.

THE DETAILS: The researchers collected data from the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study, which measured food and calorie intake for children in grades one through 12 in 2005. Twenty-two percent of children in that survey reported consuming "competitive foods," food that's sold in vending machines and school stores and isn't considered part of the national school lunch program. Most of those students were in high school. Vending machine foods, on average, contained 253 calories and comprised roughly 11 percent of the 2,270 calories in each student's daily diet. Kids who did not eat from vending machines, on the other hand, consumed just over 2,000 calories per day on average.

WHAT IT MEANS: Children who eat out of vending machines not only consume more calories, and more sugar, than students who don't, they also get more than a tenth of their day's calories from them. They're therefore at a greater risk of becoming obese. The good news is that foods in vending machines are seeing tighter regulations at the state and local levels, if not the federal level, says Andrea N. Giancoli, MPH, RD, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and a nutrition-policy consultant for the Los Angeles Unified School District. The Childhood Nutrition Reauthorization Act, which passed the House and is now awaiting a vote in the Senate, has instituted some guidelines for competitive foods that would make absolute junk, such as candy bars and greasy chips, verboten in schools. "As we see this movement gaining more steam, we do start to see schools stocking machines with healthier fare," she says.

But simply removing unhealthy temptations from students doesn't teach them about nutrition and how to make good decisions. For instance, when faced with a choice between fried onions and a bag of unsalted peanuts. "Nutrition education is not required in most schools," Giancoli says, "and that's pretty much consistent across the nation."

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Here are a few ways to educate your kids about making smart choices when tempted by the almighty vending machine:

Know thine enemy.
Not all food in vending machines is bad, Giancoli notes, particularly if your child attends a more progressive school that stocks low-fat yogurt, carrot sticks, and other healthier fare in a refrigerated machine. So you or someone you trust will need to scout out the machines and take notes. "With vending machines, you really have to educate yourself as a parent," she says, "and not just with the vending machines, but also what is being sold in the student store, because some are better than others." Once you know what you're up against, you'll know how to help your child make better choices.

Get some perspective.
Pediatrician and blogger Dr. Laufer-Cahana, suggests finding out where your child's consumption falls on the spectrum of vending-machine-provided foods. "Some kids take all their lunch money and buy lunch from the vending machines," she says. "But others just buy an occasional snack." Her philosophy is that if children are eating out of a vending machine once a month or less, there's no need to worry about what they're getting. But if it's a frequent occasion, then parents should consider packing a lunch and a few snacks so students' don't get tempted. "We cannot police our kids all the time," she says, "but it's about guidance and role modeling and communicating the importance of eating well."

Is the school's lunch program making your child fat?

Monitor their fluid intake.
Both Dr. Laufer-Cahana and Giancoli stress the importance of finding out what drink options are available to students, since many are loaded with sugar and calories. "Beverages are so misunderstood, particularly by teenagers. They're so susceptible to marketing," says Giancoli. So they may not know that a bottled green tea has the same amount of sugar as a soda, and they may assume it's healthier, thanks to the health cachet surrounding green tea. Teach them that "fruit drinks" and anything ending in "-ade" have more sugar than 100 percent fruit juice, and to choose diet drinks if they really need a flavor fix, recommends Giancoli. Dr. Laufer-Cahana recommends going the all-water route. "I usually tell kids that if they need a snack, don't waste it on the drink." Tell your kids to drink from the water fountain, she says, so they can spend the calories on something substantial that will make them feel satisfied.

Opt for filling foods.
Along those same lines, teach children to listen to their body cues, so they know which snacks fill them up. For instance, Dr. Laufer-Cahana says, pretzels are usually more filling than chips, and a handful of unsalted peanuts is better than a bag of corn nuts. If chips are their only option, Giancoli adds, teach them that baked are better than fried, and that unflavored chips are better than flavored versions, which usually have extra salt and unhealthy additives. Portion size is another issue that's pretty easy for kids of any age to understand, Giancoli says. Most schools have restricted vending machine options to smaller servings, she notes, but in the event that "King Size" and "Big Grab" choices are available at school, teach them the value of "a little goes a long way." (As a last resort, encourage them to split those larger packages with friends.)

Teach them that they won't starve.
A very valuable lesson that all parents can teach kids is that it's OK to be hungry, Dr. Laufer-Cahana says. Unfortunately, she says, "the cue to eat has nothing to do with hunger anymore." It's usually associated with the availability of food and the temptation of sugar, fat, and salt. "Kids are not supposed to snack every two hours," she says. And that empty-stomach feeling that kids (and adults) get in those hours between breakfast and lunch or lunch and an afternoon snack is perfectly normal. "It's a sign of a healthy appetite," she adds. "The hunger between meals is what makes food very tasty. It enables you to eat foods you wouldn't normally eat."

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