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Experts confirm her concerns on both counts. Excess weight has been linked to a number of health problems—diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis and some types of cancer—racking up an estimated $117 billion a year in obesity-related medical costs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At UNH, Tony Tagliaferro, professor of animal and nutritional sciences, has found a link in women between weight gain in adulthood and the development of asthma.

Sammie Cals

Fortunately, Sammie, then 14, didn't have bad habits—she was already active and healthy, and Cals simply wanted to help her stay that way. In today's environment, it may take considerable parental effort to help children resist environmental pressures to eat too much and move too little. The percentage of American children qualifying as overweight has tripled over the past two decades; many have begun to suffer from conditions previously seen only in older adults, like Type 2 diabetes and elevated levels of cholesterol and blood pressure. Obese children, studies show, score as low as young cancer patients when asked to assess their quality of life. In comparison with their normal-weight peers, they are also more likely to bully, or be bullied.

WHILE AN INSURMOUNTABLE FLIGHT of stairs or the loss of a loved one can motivate an individual to change, it takes another type of force entirely to move an entire system. Tammi Martin '78, UNH research assistant professor of health management and policy, is interested in the well-being of all 200,000 of New Hampshire's schoolchildren. It is every child's right, she believes, to be fit and healthy. To that end, she helped found the New Hampshire Healthy Schools Coalition as part of a national initiative started by the U.S. surgeon general.

Since New Hampshire has long been touted as one of the healthiest places to live, Martin suspected she would need hard facts to convince school districts to reverse some of the trends that have thrown off the delicate balance between calories in and calories out. These include a reduction in recess and physical-education time and an increase in fast-food style lunch fare coupled with the proliferation of foods like Pop-Tarts, soda and cookies in school vending machines and snack carts. In many classrooms, sweets are dispensed daily as rewards and brought in often for birthdays, "breakfasts," and other occasions.

VEGGIE TIME: A series of humorous "Miss Smarty" public service announcements promoting healthy eating is just one of several UNH Cooperative Extension initiatives aimed at combating obesity and led by nutritionist Valerie Long '81G.

In 2003, Martin conducted an assessment of the height, weight and fitness levels of 20,000 children around the state. She found a weight problem in every county, and all told, two-fifths of the state's children, from kindergartners to high school seniors, qualified as either at risk or obese. An assessment called Physical Best, developed by the Cooper Institute, revealed a parallel problem: declining levels of fitness. Compared to a similar assessment in 1990, roughly one-third fewer students were able to pass the aerobic-capacity test in 2003. Furthermore, the older they got, the poorer their performance. While 88 percent of preschoolers passed tests of strength and flexibility, by the end of first grade, only 47 percent passed. For older students, fewer than 18 percent of 10-year-olds and 4 percent of 15-year-olds passed.

The frosting on the Hostess HoHo was a study that showed a strong correlation between excess weight and low scores on the third-grade statewide assessment in math and reading. The same factors that lead to weight gain—poor nutrition and lack of physical activity—have already been shown to contribute to difficulty in concentration in school and lower academic achievement.

Martin now had a statistical stick, as well as some carrots in the form of federal and charitable grants, to take to the school districts. Still, it wasn't an easy sell. Educators resisted the idea of blaming the schools for a societal problem. If she had a magic wand, says Katherine Moore '84, '94G, the school nurse at Mast Way Elementary School in Lee, N.H., she might do away with junk food. Since it's here to stay, however, she believes parents must take responsibility for their children's health. As a working mother, she understands the pressures of a hectic lifestyle and parental guilt. But she urges parents to prepare healthy food, "have the guts to say no" and "stop expressing love with sugar."

Although Martin agrees that parents and other segments of society share the responsibility for our growing weight problem, she believes that the school is the easiest place to reach all children.

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