Atkins Nutritionals Company, most notable for its popular low-carbohydrate diet, has announced a new partnership with the National Education Association along with other educational groups.
The partnership comes in an effort to combat obesity in America, which has elevated to epidemic status and taken root in American culture. The theory is that eating habits instilled in children at a young age are responsible for much of the obesity in adulthood. To counteract this effect, Atkins and the NEA are promoting healthy food service programs in schools across the country.
| The Issue Atkins forms partnership with education organizations |
Atkins will run a Web site on behalf of the NEA that will promote schools with model health programs. While Atkins claims it is involved in the project simply to target obesity and that marketing to children is not a hidden motive, their involvement in public food service is a warning sign of corporate America staking claim in our education system and gaining influence over millions of young children.
Furthermore, the Atkins diet, with its low-carb approach to eating habits, stands in stark contrast to what the food pyramid has always taught to be healthy eating. Being on a diet doesn’t always equal being healthy. In the case of the Atkins diet, the consumption of carbohydrates is eliminated. While this may prove to help people lose weight, it is not an optimal option for health.
Atkins is even a detriment to the education of healthy eating habits. When instilling them in young children, the word diet should not even be used. It has so many negative connotations that even a young child can understand and be affected by.
These students who participate in public food service are a captive audience. They only have the limited options that are provided to them, which makes it enticing for the Atkins Company to introduce their products to millions of young people and begin to develop product loyalty at such a young age. The products that students eat at school lunches are what they will become acclimated to, which will affect their eating habits over the course of their lives. With Atkins intertwined in public lunch service programs, it is likely that students will go without their carbohydrates from now on.
