So what exactly is the agenda? For the past year, Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., has been working quietly on a plan to revamp the way schools approach food, in both the classroom and the cafeteria–a plan that focuses largely on eliminating empty carbs, the same foods adults on Atkins avoid. As part of the Youth Initiative, ANI hopes to announce several pilot programs in schools in the next few months. Though they declined to elaborate, Atkins staffers said they’ll likely push for “curriculum changes,” and take-home brochures for parents and teachers are already in the works. One for educators lists four kinds of unhealthy foods: those “high in sugar and low in satiety,” processed foods, trans-fatty foods, and oversize portions. (Note the lack of, say, bacon.) The Youth Initiative will also target school lunches, though it says it won’t lobby to add Atkins’s own prepackaged foods to the menu. With or without an official partnership, some schools are already getting that message. Last week the Dover, N.H., schools announced a new option for their cafeterias: not chicken on whole grain, admittedly, but bunless burgers.
Although nutritionists can’t comment on the Youth Initiative specifically, most object to the idea of putting even the most overweight kids on Atkins. A few doctors approve, though only in extreme cases and only under their supervision. Last month a British researcher suggested that a low-carb, high-protein diet could help suppress children’s appetites. And in the March issue of the Journal of Pediatrics, Dr. Stephen Sondike described several young, obese patients who had lost weight safely by going low-carb. Sondike is also on the Atkins Physicians Council and helped design the Youth Initiative. But, he says, “What I’m doing in my practice isn’t really relevant to that. This is about educating people–changing the way we think about healthful foods.” And where better to educate people than in schools?
