The Bermuda Dieticians Association would like to see the Island's schools accept nutritional standards for its students.

Getting the schools and parents to buy into the idea is the key, said Government Nutritionist Mellonie Barnum.

"We want standards to be in the school and are present there are none," said Ms Barnum, a registered dietician.

"This year we would like to work with getting them to accept standards. The nutrition policy is a statement and unless you have standards to say how you're following the nutrition policy it remains a statement.

"In the school survey some of the things we were seeing were that kids are drinking lots of soda and drinking hardly any calcium fortified foods. That's a big concern, especially during the teen years, because that's a time when they are doing a lot of growth - a child can grow an inch in one summer.

"At a time that their bodies are laying down calcium stores, they are actually not getting a sufficient amount of calcium. That is one of the concerns we have."

The fast food restaurant business is a billion dollar a year industry in the United States and children a main target in advertising campaigns.

"Fast food seems to be an easy thing for profit making and that (fast food) seems to play an important part in children's lives," noted Ms Barnum.

"However, as a result of that we've seen some children coming up very early in life with chronic diseases that we normally see in adults. Another concern is that academics are so pushed that life skills may not be a focus point in all the schools when you're talking about nutrition or health or cooking.

"So you're having these kids coming out without those skills and yet they have to go into adulthood being parents without those skills. It's one thing for nutrition to be taught in the classrooms, but they also need to see it in practical terms as far as everyday living."

Added Ms Barnum: "Our concern is that the food vendors who are supplying food to the schools have a standard in which they follow. The Bermuda Dieticians Association, Nutrition Services and the Health Promotion Officer, all want to be promoting a healthy environment in addition to health as a curriculum.

"We want people to buy into it, we don't want to say `you must do this'. It's more important for people to adopt and accept the concept so we're actually looking for the best method in introducing the standards to the schools so that we will have total buy-in.

"If we have buy-in from one segment like the teachers and the principal, then we have to have buy-in from the parents and also the food vendors."

Ms Barnum and Cymone Hollis provide nutritional services to all the Island's schools, public and private. Their department's mandate is to ensure that the population reaches optimal nutritional standards in the prevention of chronic diseases.

`What we're finding out is that they (public and private schools) are the same," she said of nutritional standards.

"It varies from school to school. You do have some public schools that are very good as far as keeping to nutrition policy and you have some private schools who have adopted the nutrition policy. With public and private schools it is the same percentage of kids that are eating well and not eating well.

"We do want buy-in from everyone, it's very important to ensure the success of our students. What we're finding out is if they have good nutrition it also helps them in their cognitive levels. Kids who are malnourished do not retain as much information as the kids who are well nourished.

"That has to do with the amount of blood sugar available to the brain."

Exercise is also important for optimal health amongst children, she reminded.

"We have to be stressing a balance between the two," Ms Barnum stressed.

"The exercise is going to supply oxygen to the brain which also helps them in their cognitive level. Exercise also helps keep their weight under control and helps to relieve stress, especially during test time. Test-taking is stressful."