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ELIZABETH COHEN: This is part of an initiative between the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association. They are trying to get as much sugar calories fat out of school lunch as possible to make them healthier. Bill Clinton has something to say about this.
PRESIDENT CLINTON: Today I’m enormously happy to announce our first industry agreement as part of the healthy school programs. Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and the American Beverage Association have agreed to new guidelines limiting the portion sizes and reducing the number of calories available to children through their products during the school day.Under these guidelines, only lower calories and nutritious beverages will be sold in schools.
ELIZABETH COHEN: So by the fall of 2008 they hope to have 75 percent of public schools on board with this plan and here's what the plan would be: in elementary and middle schools, there would be no soda, no diet soda and no full-fat milk. Now high schools would have the same restrictions except diet-sodas would be allowed. Now there, of course, have been many calls to overhaul school lunches as a whole including the food. But many experts say that beverages are not a bad place to start. Catherine?
CATHERINE CALLAWAY: Like you said, you know, it's,it's,it is a small place to start. Will,will it make that much of a difference Elisabeth, just to,to change the beverages?
ELIZABETH COHEN: Actually, experts say it is surprising how many calories kids get from drinks. And part of the problem is that like adults, they'll drink down those calories and not realize how much they’re taking in. Let’s take a look first at soda. One 12-ounce can of soda has 150 calories. That means that if you drink a can a day, that can add up to 15 pounds a year. So sodas are indeed one of the reasons why today’s children are more often than, more often than used to be, are obese. Now let’s take a look at full-fat milk. An 8-ounce glass of full-fat milk has 150 calories and 8 grams of fat. That’s more calories in fat than in a chocolate chip cookie. And so doctors say why not give them the fat-free or the low-fat milk, same nutrients, less fat, fewer calories.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY: Ah, you know, Elisabeth, until this came out today, I didn't even realize there were that many soda machines in schools, but I guess that’s a trend now, right?
ELIZABETH COHEN: There are. And there have been fewer and fewer in the past few years. As a matter of fact, most elementary schools these days do not have sodas with their lunches. So this American Heart Association-Bill Clinton plan will be just a continuation of that. But yes, it is surprising how many schools have sodas and again, it is also surprising how many of those sodas are in kids as well as adults. You down, you know, one in the morning, you have one with lunch, you have one in the afternoon. It (is) really those, calories (that) really add up.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY: And Elisabeth, no concern about the caffeine in these drinks. And I was worried about the sugar, but I don’t know that I wanna ,you know, 13 14 year-old downing a couple of cokes during school.
ELIZABETH COHEN: Oh, I mean 13 and14 who, you know, how about 7 or 8 years old. I mean there've been sodas in elementary schools in the past. Yes, caffeine is another concern yet another reason doctors say why not get these sodas out of schools.
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