Kids Can Hit Fast Food Joints Fast

While dashing to and from school, it’s conveniently easy for Chicago school kids to grab french fries, doughnuts, burgers and fried chicken at fast-food joints such as McDonald’s, Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts, KFC, Burger King, Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits and Wendy’s.

In fact, all students in most public and private schools need to do is take a five- to 10-minute walk to reach at least one fast-food restaurant, says a new study, released Tuesday in the American Journal of Public Health.

Chicago isn’t alone. Other large metropolitan areas also have fast-food restaurants "statistically significantly clustered in areas within a short walking distance from schools," the researchers found.

"Children and teens are surrounded by unhealthy options," lead author Bryn Austin, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Boston, told USA Today.

Of course, we knew this already, but now we have some research to back it up.

Indeed, as schoolchildren are getting fatter and fatter, almost every day of the week, they enter an environment that just about begs — if not tempts them — to grab high-sugar, high-calorie, nutrition-lacking, inexpensive food.

Sure enough, on days when kids eat fast food, they inevitably take in more calories, fats and sugars and fewer fruits and vegetables, other studies show.

What’s more, one-third of U.S. children and teens eat fast food, according to researchers.

Researcher Austin notes that these findings raise the question of whether or not fast-food companies intentionally place their restaurants near schools to reach young people.

"We know that a great deal of thought and planning goes into fast-food restaurant site location," and that children "are very important to the market," Austin said.

Meanwhile, another study from the University of Washington revealed that more than half of high school seniors took jobs in the spring of their final year, with 70-plus percent working at typical teen jobs such as at fast-food places or stores.

So what can be done about this profusion of fast food restaurants near schools?

Yale University obesity expert Kelley D. Brownell recommends adopting zoning laws to "prevent this type of exploitation of children.

"Just like there are drug-free zones around schools, there should be zones around schools that are free of junk food…"

What an intriguing idea.

Better yet, I vote for getting more healthy foods in these areas. Why don’t one or more of these food companies — which claim to have children’s interests in mind — set up fruit and vegetable stands near schools?

Or perhaps they could offer only healthy fare to kids during, right before school startws and right after school gets out? Or am I just dreaming?

Share your ideas of how to resolve this fast-food-near-schools problem.