Studies: Children obese due to a host of unhealthy...(alth threat that soft drink promotions e...)

Other studies by the U-M team found that physical education is lacking among older students. The average number of minutes students spend in PE each week drops from 172 minutes in 8th grade to 89 minutes in 12th grade, by which time only a third of students are even taking a gym class at some time during the school year.

Minority students from lower socioeconomic levels attend schools in which fewer students are involved in varsity sports, quite possibly because such schools have fewer resources available to offer a full range of sports and the exercise that goes with them.

The U-M studies also show evidence of unhealthy school nutrition policies and serious disparities across racial/ethnic lines and across different socioeconomic levels:

• An article by Jorge Delva, U-M associate professor of social work, and colleagues documents the great extent to which children in school have access to high-fat, high- sugar and salty foods through vending machines and snack carts in schools

• Racial and ethnic minorities have less access to healthier foods, such as low-fat snacks.

• Students of low socioeconomic status have less access to healthy snacks at school than do students with higher socioeconomic status.

• On average, Hispanic high school students are exposed to brand-name fast-food items at lunchtime twice as often as African-American and white students.

U-M's Patrick O'Malley and colleagues found that in the 10 percent of schools that have the least overweight students, one in 10 students are overweight, on average, whereas in the 10 percent of all schools with the greatest problem, fully 44 percent of their students are overweight, on average.

"Research is showing us that we have in our schools and communities a pe
'/>"/>