French fries and other junk food are now harder to find in US school cafeterias or fundraisers, a US federal study discovered as quoted by media reports Monday. (photo: file photo from xinhua)

About 19 percent of schools served French fries to students in 2006, down from 40 percent six years earlier, according to the School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) 2006 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The percentage of schools that sold cookies or other high-fat baked goods as part of a fundraiser dropped from 67 percent to 54 percent from 2000 to 2006.

The study also found that more schools were offering salads, low-fat or non-fat yogurt, and low-fat salty snacks like pretzels and baked chips. Fewer were selling cookies, cake or other high-fat baked goods in vending machines.

However, public-health officials are cautiously optimistic about the changes.

"Since the release of the previous SHPPS in 2000, America's schools have made significant progress in removing junk food, offering more physical activity opportunities, and establishing policies that prohibit tobacco use," said CDC Director Julie L. Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H.

"We're not satisfied. We still have a long, long way to go, but it is encouraging," said Howell Wechsler, director of the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health.

But the study also indicated many schools were falling short on providing physical education for pupils.

About 90 percent of districts required physical education in all schools. Still, it was rare for schools to provide daily physical education to kids in all grades.

About two-thirds of elementary schools provided daily recess to all students.

Students need daily exercise, said Jan Harp Domene, president of the national PTA. "Kids that learn this at an early age will practice this into adulthood," she said. "We are growing a whole generation of couch potatoes."

The study, published in the October 2007 issue of the Journal of School Health, is the largest and most comprehensive study of health policies and programs in the nation's schools.

(Agencies via Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2007)