Atkins' low-carb approach makes way into schools

Hoping to curb the nation's childhood obesity problem, Atkins Nutritionals announces a collaborative effort Thursday with four major education groups, including the National Education Association, the USA's largest teachers union. (Related story: A is for Atkins? Not yet)

Atkins is helping pay for an NEA Web site for teachers and students. It's also working with school nurses in New York and underwriting a publication on childhood obesity for state education policymakers.

The partnerships are raising questions. Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert says Atkins is "using the moral authority of the schools" to market to families.

Others say the Atkins initiative is another example of public schools' failure to protect children from questionable marketing as districts team up with corporations as diverse as Office Depot, Coca-Cola and Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Atkins says it won't urge children to go low-carb. "This isn't about putting kids on Atkins," says Stuart Trager, Atkins Nutritionals' medical director. "We're just saying parents deserve to understand that (kids) can make better choices."

But Trager and others acknowledge that their larger goal is to change how Americans eat, which includes cutting carbs.

By any measure, Americans have embraced Atkins' ideas: limiting carbs while encouraging consumption of protein and fat. Atkins books have sold more than 20 million copies; one estimate says 30% of adults have tried Atkins.

Critics agree that cutting back on sweets and processed foods is wise, but they say Atkins conflicts with the Department of Agriculture's Food Guide Pyramid. That could baffle families. The pyramid, for example, promotes drinking milk; Atkins says milk is too high in carbs.

"The public is already confused enough," says Melinda Sothern, director of pediatric obesity research at Louisiana State University's Health Sciences Center. "To all of a sudden have a school program that's telling them to eat more protein and less carbs is confusing."

Former U.S. surgeon general David Satcher says Atkins' ideas on junk food and exercise are smart, but schools "have to be especially careful when you're dealing with an advocacy group of any kind."

Satcher's Action for Healthy Kids releases a report today that finds children's poor nutrition and sedentary lives cost schools millions of dollars in lost staff time and lead to poor academics and attendance.