One of the most rural and obese states could be national model for limiting junk food in schools

For 15 years, federal lawmakers have tried to limit junk food in schools, only to be thwarted by food-industry lobbies. Things may be different this year, partly because one of the more rural and obese states, Kentucky, is showing the way, Jane Black reports for the Washington Post.

"Conventional wisdom has long held that such snacks are a necessary evil because they provide key revenue to supplement the federal school-lunch program and help pay for sports and arts programs," Black writes. But in Kentucky, where the legislature passed one of the nation's strongest anti-junk food laws four years ago, some school food-service directors are proving otherwise. Black cites one high school in Kenton County, where revenue rose 61 percent between 2005 and 2007 without any price increase for school meals. Similar success came in Hardin County, where the nutrition director was Janey Thornton. Now she is undersecretary of agriculture for food and nutrition services, and would play a role in writing new rules for the nation. (Photo: The Associated Press)

Only 12 states have comprehensive rules for foods sold outside the lunch line, but one virtue of the federal system is experimentation by states. Kentucky is the seventh fattest state (fourth among children), the sixth most rural, and has 172 separate school districts, so its experience could be persuasive for lawmakers worried about the effect on rural schools' revenue. And the lobbying landscape is changing, Black reports: "Even the food industry is supporting tighter standards in the face of reports that obesity rates have tripled in children and adolescents over the last two decades." Here are the latest data by state, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Here is an animated map of state obesity rates since 1985.

Black notes that a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded that one-fifth of the increase in teenagers' average body mass index was attributable to an "increase in availability of junk foods in schools." Other studies have found that rural students are now more likely to be obese than their urban counterparts. But the food lobby has changed for other reasons; food companies now sell bottled water and low-calorie snacks, and "would rather deal with national standards than patchwork of state and city regulations, which make it difficult for companies to standardize nutritional content and serving sizes," Black reports. (Read more)