• On Saturday morning television, children see one food commercial every five minutes.
  
  
• A national survey conducted in 2000 found that 43 percent of elementary schools, 74 percent of middle/junior high schools, and 98 percent of senior high schools have either a vending machine or a school store where students can purchase food or beverages, the most common offerings high in fat and/or sugar.
  
  
• In California, only 21 percent of children ages 9-11 and 30 percent of adolescents ages 12-17 eat the recommended minimum five servings of fruits and vegetables per day.
  
  
• About one in three teens eats at least one fast food meal per day.
  
  
• Poor nutrition can lead to being overweight or obese; obesity can lead to health problems including increased risk of heart disease, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes.
  
  
• One-quarter of teens ages 12-17 (23.4 percent) reported in the California Health Interview Survey that they had done less than thirty minutes of moderate exercise in the previous week.
  
  
• Nearly one in three (31.5 percent) California children spends three hours or more each weekday watching television.
  
  
• Schools in poorer areas often cannot afford proper equipment, facilities and personnel for in-school and after school programs. A lack of safe outdoor facilities in some communities makes it difficult for children to exercise and play outside.

Sources:
Katherine B. Horgen et al., “ Television Food Advertising: Targeting Children in a Toxic Environment,” in Dorothy G. Singer & Jerome L. Singer, eds., Handbook of Children and the Media (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001), pp.4 4 7 - 4 6 2 .

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, School Health Policies and Programs Study 2000 (SHPPS), “Fact Sheet: Foods and Beverages Sold Outside of the School Meal Programs,” accessed August 23, 2003.

Public Health Institute, A Special Report on Policy Implications from the 1999California Children's Healthy Eating and Exercise Practices Survey (CalCHEEPS ) ( B e r k e l e y, CA: Public Health Institute, 2001); Public Health Institute, California Teen Eating, Exercise, and Nutrition Survey (CAL TEENS) Fact Sheet (B e r k e l e y, CA: Public Health Institute, n.d.).

Public Health Institute Fact Sheet.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General (Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, 1996).

Children Now analysis of data from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 2001 California Health Interview Survey, “Any Moderate Activity For At Least 30 Minutes in Past Week,” http://www.chis.ucla.edu/, generated on August 21, 2003.

Children Now analysis of data from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 2001 California Health Interview Survey, “Amount of TV Watching On Weekdays,” http://www.chis.ucla.edu/, generated on February 20, 2003.

Lisa Craypo and Sarah Samuels, Creating an Adolescent Nutrition and Physical Activity Policy Agenda: A Report on a Public Policy Needs Assessment (Sacramento, CA: California Project Lean, August 1998).