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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 2, 2009
LOCAL STUDENTS EARN TRIP TO TRAIN
WITH NFL PROS
St. Louis Rams and St. Louis Dairy
Council Help Tackle Childhood Obesity
with Fuel Up to Play 60
St. Louis, Missouri [December 2, 2009] –
This fall, the St. Louis Rams,
National Dairy Council, and St. Louis
Dairy Council partnered to launch Fuel
Up to Play 60, an initiative aimed at
tackling childhood obesity by giving
youth a voice in changing the school
health environment. As a reward for
their efforts toward building healthier
student bodies, local students recently
reported to Rams training camp.
102 students from five schools in
Missouri and Illinois were
selected to attend the 2009 Fuel Up
to Play 60 MVP Blitz, held December
1st at the St. Louis Rams
Russell Training Center, the team’s
practice facility located in Earth City,
Missouri. The students, from North
Jefferson Intermediate, Cedar Hill
Intermediate, and Windsor Middle School
in Missouri and Parkside Junior High and
Bloomington Junior High School in
Illinois, took to the field with St.
Louis Rams players Oshiomogho Atowge and
James Butler. The three-hour event also
included physical fitness challenges,
information on healthy eating,
interactive stations from Dairy Fully
Fueled program, and the chance to
celebrate the school’s success in the
Fuel Up to Play 60 program.
Fuel Up to Play 60 is a free, youth-led
program that empowers children and teens
to take charge of their health. Students
work with school leaders to create
opportunities for 60 minutes of daily
physical activity and to make more
healthy foods available at school, like
low-fat and fat-free dairy foods,
fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Students from the five schools attending
the clinic took part in the pilot phase
of the program during the 2008-09 school
year.
“We’re excited that Fuel Up to Play 60
is giving kids an opportunity to take
control of their own health and make
their school environments healthier by
eating right, getting daily physical
activity and encouraging their friends
to do the same,” says Bridget Sheehan,
registered dietitian with St. Louis
Dairy Council. “Fuel Up to Play
60 makes adopting healthy habits fun and
exciting while helping youth make a
difference in their schools.”
To learn more about Fuel Up to Play 60
program, visit:
www.fueluptoplay60.com
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EXTRA! EXTRA! Positive School Milk
Experience Increases Consumption
A new study
published in the
Journal of Child Nutrition & Management
tested the effect of enhancing milk to
be more appealing and attractive to
students. The purpose of the study was
to determine if these changes would
improve milk consumption among
elementary and secondary school
children. Led by Karen Rafferty, RD,
LMNT, Senior Research Dietitian for
Osteoporosis Research Center at
Creighton University, it revealed that
children’s milk consumption increased by
an astonishing 35 percent in elementary
and 39 percent in secondary test
schools. Enhancements included offering
ice-cold, low-fat and fat-free white and
flavored milk in plastic, re-sealable
containers, as compared to control
schools that did not make these
enhancements. The study also found that
participation in the National School
Lunch Program in secondary schools
increased when these improvements were
implemented.
A key factor influencing this study’s
outcome was the availability of flavored
milk options. Flavored milk provides a
unique package of nine essential
nutrients for growing children and teens
– the same nutrients contained in white
milk – including calcium, potassium,
phosphorus, protein, and vitamins A, D
and B12. Additionally, the 2005 Dietary
Guidelines for Americans states that
milk’s nutrients play an important role
in bone development and maintenance and
overall nutrient adequacy throughout
childhood and adulthood.
The research, conducted by School
Nutrition Association and National Dairy
Council (NDC), further supports
NDC’s goal to improve childhood
nutrition through partnerships with
other leaders in the field and creation
of innovative products.
Incidence of Lactose Intolerance
Significantly Lower than Previously
Believed
New
research shows that the national
prevalence of self-reported lactose
intolerance may be far lower than
previously estimated, according to a
study in the latest issue of
Nutrition Today. The study,
which uses data from a national sample
of three ethnic groups, reveals that the
overall prevalence rate of self-reported
lactose intolerance is 12 percent – with
7.72 percent of European Americans,
10.05 percent of Hispanic Americans and
19.5 percent of African Americans who
consider themselves lactose intolerant.
These new findings indicate that
previous estimates of self-reported
lactose intolerance incidence – based on
the incidence of lactose maldigestion –
may be overestimated by wide margins.
Previous studies have found lactose
maldigestion, or low lactase activity in
the gut, occurs in approximately 15
percent of European Americans, 50
percent of Mexican Americans and 80
percent of African Americans. The
current Dietary Guidelines for Americans
encourages people with lactose
intolerance to try lower-lactose dairy
food options to ensure they get the
essential nutrients found in dairy
foods.
Dairy-Rich Diet Helps Buckle the Belt
A new, multi-center
trial adds to the growing body of
evidence supporting dairy’s positive
role in maintaining a healthy weight. In
a 12-week placebo-controlled trial, 106
otherwise healthy, overweight and mildly
obese adults aged 18-35, who at baseline
had low calcium intake (<800
mg/day), were randomized into three
dietary groups, all reducing their
regular caloric intake by 500 calories
each day: 1) “Low Calcium” control diet,
consuming 500 mg calcium; 0-1 dairy
serving; 2) “High Calcium,” 1,400 mg of
calcium provided by 900 mg calcium
supplement and ~500 mg from diet; 0-1
dairy serving; and 3) “High Dairy,”
1,400 mg calcium provided by three
servings of milk, cheese and/or yogurt
in addition to dietary calcium from
other foods.
Weight loss in the “High Dairy” diet
group was similar to that in the “Low
Calcium” and the “High Calcium” diet
groups, but those who complied with the
“High Dairy” diet had twice as much fat
loss as those in the other groups, and
also demonstrated significantly greater
fat loss in the torso and decreases in
waist circumference.
Sip on a “Skinny” Treat Anytime
Stay warm this holiday season with a
delicious and nutritious
Skinny Hazelnut Café au Lait. This
tasty and easy-to-make beverage offers
30 percent of the recommended Daily
Value of calcium and 8 grams of dairy
protein per serving, as well as other
nutrients. It also can be made with
lactose-free milk, and it’s a great
treat to serve at a holiday party for
friends and family. Get recipe ideas for
other
beverages, snacks and meals for all
seasons!
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NEW STUDIES
REINFORCE IMPORTANCE OF DIET CHOICES IN
TACKLING CHILDHOOD OBESITY
Fuel Up to Play 60 program acts on
science to give students the tools to
eat healthier and get active
Rosemont, Ill – December 1, 2009 – Two
new studies show how important forming
healthy food and beverage habits can be
in children and adolescents. This
science adds to a growing body of
evidence that has helped shape a new
nutrition and physical activity program
from the National Football League and
National Dairy Council (NDC) called Fuel
Up to Play 60.
One study in the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition found that what
5-year-old girls drink can predict their
weight status for the remainder of
childhood and into adolescence.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State
University found that those who drank
more sweetened beverages, such as soda
and sports drinks, at the age of 5 were
more likely to be overweight over the
following 10 years. Additionally, the
nutrient-rich beverages displaced the
sodas and sports drinks – girls who
drank more milk and 100% fruit juice
drank fewer nutritionally empty
sweetened beverages.
“This study shows why it’s so important
to lay the early groundwork for creating
healthy eating habits using
nutrient-rich foods, because it can have
a significant longer-term impact,” says
Leann Birch, PhD, Distinguished
Professor of Human Development and one
of the study’s authors. “These findings
show just how much everyday choices –
like picking milk or fruit juice over a
soda – can matter, especially for
children.”
Another study, in the current issue of
Public Health Nutrition, reinforces
recent reports that suggest low
consumption of nutrient-rich foods –
specifically low-fat and fat-free dairy
foods, fruits, vegetables and whole
grains – can contribute to obesity among
young adults.
Several schools are acting on the
obesity crisis among youth as well as
this growing body of science by taking
steps to improve their health and
wellness environment. Many are using
Fuel Up to Play 60, which aims to reach
36.6 million students in an expected
60,000 schools in the 2009-2010 school
year. Fuel Up to Play 60 acts on the
recommendations of the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans, which call for
increased access to nutrient-rich foods
from the “food groups to encourage”
(low-fat and fat-free dairy, fruits,
vegetables and whole grains) and 60
minutes of physical activity every day.
The program works in two ways to help
students make their schools a healthier
place:
·
It empowers student leaders to work with
adults and peers in their school and
community to improve the school wellness
environment by selecting and
implementing new healthy eating and
physical activity projects that fit the
needs of their school.
Students also sign up and take the
pledge to improve themselves and their
school on the Fuel Up to Play 60 Web
site, where they can track healthy
eating and 60 minutes of physical
activity daily to earn points toward
winning games and other great prizes in
a national competition.
“We have lots of choices when we eat at
school, but by picking healthier foods
we are actually building healthier
futures for ourselves,” says Nikki Adeli,
a Philadelphia seventh grader and Fuel
Up to Play 60 student leader. “Through
this program, I’ve learned that every
little bit counts, whether it is picking
up an apple for a snack or walking to
the grocery store. Being healthy and
staying active are easy choices that
everyone can make all the time."
In addition to improving access to
nutritious foods, Fuel Up to Play 60
uses the physical fitness expertise of
the NFL to help students work with their
teachers and administrators to improve
their school’s physical activity levels.
This is of critical importance, since a
national survey conducted by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention found
that nearly 62 percent of children aged
9-13 years do not participate in any
organized physical activity during their
non-school hours and almost 23 percent
do not engage in any free-time physical
activity.
“We have a huge issue with children’s
health in our country right now, and as
a health teacher and parent I know it’s
going to take small, everyday changes to
make a big difference,” says Ric Davies,
a health teacher and Fuel Up to Play 60
program advisor in Springdale, Arkansas.
“In the short time that our school has
been involved in Fuel Up to Play 60, the
students already have made so many
changes, like starting a Walking Club
and adding healthier foods to the lunch
line. I think they’re establishing some
lifetime habits.”
Schools and students can sign up now and
join the competition at
www.fueluptoplay60.com.
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For more
information on these studies or to
schedule an interview on the many health
benefits of dairy foods, please locate
your St. Louis Dairy Council nutrition
educator on the
CONTACT US page.
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