Dean Schaffer, Alexandra Wexler, Whitney Mountain and Jamie Hansen contributed reporting for this article

Great white sharks have been saddled with a bad reputation for being man-eaters, which can be attributed to movies like 'Jaws.' (Photo: Alexandra Wexler)

“If you wanted to get shark-bitten, I could tell you how to do it,” said John McCosker, a great white shark expert and chair of the Department of Aquatic Biology at the California Academy of Sciences. “If you wanted to avoid getting shark-bitten with 100% assurance, I can’t, other than staying out of the water. But I will also say that you’re very safe in California water.”

Indeed, despite a 25 percent increase in shark attacks worldwide from 2009 to 2010, the number of attacks in California stayed constant at just four, according to a report released this month by the International Shark Attack File. Here are the key numbers for 2010:

• There were 79 attacks worldwide—the most since 2000, when there were 80. See the “Global Shark Attacks, 2010” map below for an interactive map of the attacks.
• Florida had the most attacks of any state in the United States, with 13—down from 18 in 2009. See the United States map below for an interactive map of all the attacks that occurred in the U.S. between 2000 and 2010.
• North Carolina also had more attacks than California, with five.
• California tied South Carolina and Hawaii with four each.
• Both California and Florida had one fatal attack; all other states had none.
• See the graphs after the jump for more detailed statistics and trends.

Check out how shark attack statistics have changed over the years. Click on a graphic to enlarge it. The story continues below.

One factor that contributed to the spike was five freak attacks in one week off the coast of Egypt. McCosker explained that a cargo ship dumped dead sheep into the Red Sea, which inadvertently caused a sort of feeding frenzy.

Moving beyond the statistics, McCosker explained that the public and, in a lot of cases, the scientific community’s fascination with shark attacks to dates back to the 1970s, and a very memorable musical score in a movie.

“It wasn’t until the film ‘Jaws’ that all of us really became aware of sharks—the reality and the public misconception,” he said. “Was ‘Jaws’ an exaggeration? Of course it was. But at the same time, it was a very exciting film, and it even made the biologist wonder about how safe it was to be studying a kelp bed with that music playing behind us…”

Julie Kingsley, a surfer who frequents the waves in Half Moon Bay, knows this feeling well.

“In the first few years I was learning, I was so scared of sharks, so I was always looking over my shoulder and I couldn’t really relax,” she explained. “It was hard to learn.”

Like most other athletes, though, Kingsley has come to accept the risks that come along with the sport she loves. “It’s always a risk every surfer takes every time they go out there,” she said. “Either get over it or get out of the water, because that’s where they live. You’re stepping into their world.”

View shark attacks by state from 2000 to 2010. Click on a bubble for more details.

View U.S. Attacks by State, 2000-2010 in a larger map

Having spent a substantial amount of time in the open water with great white sharks, McCosker can confirm that these animals are not out to “get” anybody.

“They didn’t attack us underwater,” he said. “We had the sharks circling us, interested in us, but making no attempt to consume us or attack us.”

Sharks attack when they mistake humans for their normal food—mostly pinnipeds, such as sea lions and elephant seals, McCosker explained. From underwater, the silhouette of a surfer can look very much like a sea lion to the sharks, especially if the surfboard is short or has a split tail.

In addition, of three great white shark attacks last year in California, two happened to kayakers, a relatively new phenomenon that McCosker attributes to an increase in kayaking off the coast.

“One of the two kayakers was at a location where a nearly identical attack had happened on a kayaker three years earlier,” McCosker said.

Many surfers know that attacks were up last year, but that does not necessarily keep them from doing what they love.

“It takes a lot of commitment and a lot of time,” said Scott Eggers, a lifelong surfer whose nine-year-old son is also learning. He added that he and his family are “very aware” of the increase in attacks.

“They exist, but they’re not out there to eat you,” he said, “but it’s just part of surfing. There are certain places that I don’t surf and certain times of year because I know there are sharks.”

View global shark attacks in 2010. Click on a marker for more details.

View Global Shark Attacks, 2010 in a larger map

McCosker agreed—avoiding beaches with a history of shark attacks is essential, he said. In addition, staying close to the shore and avoiding diving alone could significantly decrease a swimmer or surfer’s chances of being attacked.

“In summary, it’s easy to say where you might be attacked, but harder to say where you won’t be attacked,” McCosker said. “That is, white sharks repeat their attack behavior at certain locations and in certain ways.”

If you are attacked, though, there are some things that you can do to vastly increase your chances of survival.

With no apparent fear of sharks, a young surfer heads out to catch some waves at the area known as Surfers' Beach near Half Moon Bay. (Photo: Whitney Mountain)

“The buddy system is very, very important,” he added.

The single most important thing for surfers and other ocean-goers to remember is you should never, ever go out alone.

Even with all the expert advice, a little common sense can go a long way. “Be alert, be aware,” Kingsley said. “If you see a big fin and it’s not a porpoise…you know.”

Get the rest of the 2010 stats here. Explore the rest of the International Shark Attack File here.

Will menu labeling affect obesity in California?

Spending all day sitting in McDonalds, with all entrances and exits in sight, counting people, probably doesn’t sound fun—or productive. But after doing just that, not once, but multiple times at McDonalds and Au Bon Pain, Christina Roberto, a Yale graduate student and researcher for the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity found that almost no one paid any attention to nutritional information, even with it right in front of them. Recently, California decided to make that information more obvious for consumers—with mixed results.

While researchers debate whether or not diners change their order because they know how many calories it has, calorie counts are still missing from many California fast-food restaurants three months after the deadline to begin displaying them.

The Subway at Stanford's Tresidder Student Union has calories labeled on its menu boards. Photo: Kelsey Williams

With an eye on growing obesity levels in the United States and rising health care costs, the state passed a law in 2008 requiring that all restaurants with 20 or more locations in California display calorie counts on menus and indoor menu boards by the beginning of 2011.

“Considering the high health benefit this information provides to consumers and the high health care costs of nutrition- and obesity-related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, menu labeling provides a necessary tool to address poor nutrition and obesity,” said Taryn Kinney in an e-mail, spokesperson for one of the bill’s sponsors Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima).

The law followed similar ordinances in other states including New York and Washington. Congress, also recently passed a federal menu labeling law, which may actually be holding up the implementation of the California statute.

Waiting for Washington

Some California eateries have yet to unveil calorie counts in their restaurants despite the state bill already being in effect. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working to have the new federal regulations, which were part of the health care reform bill passed in March of last year, finished by Mar. 23. Most California counties have said that they will not enforce the law until the federal guidelines are finalized.

“We are seeing a relatively soft rollout of implementation of the California menu labeling law,” said Jennifer Richard, policy director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy in an e-mail. “Though, since the California law is very similar to the federal law, many companies have chosen to simply go forward and implement menu labeling practices now in order to insure that they have addressed their legal obligations to comply with the California law,” Richard added.

Sen. Padilla is working on a bill, S.B. 20, that would bring California’s law up to speed with the national law, Kinney said.
Amanda Bloom, who works with Richard as the development director for the center, said that they are okay with the wait for menu labeling because the federal bill will ultimately be stronger than the California bill.

While the state bill requires all restaurants with more than 20 locations within the state to label their menus; the federal bill ensures that all chains with 20 or more locations in the entire country comply, Bloom said. Also, the federal bill includes requirements for labeling alcoholic beverages and drive-through menus.

Based on the FDA timeline, Bloom said she expects the federal bill to go into effect by the middle of next year. “It’s delaying labeling in California,” Bloom said, “but we’re looking at the bigger picture.”

Does labeling make a difference?

Researchers are unsure whether or not menu labeling changes how consumers order—what is more conclusive, however, is that many restaurants change their recipes and menus to make sure that customers don’t see too many crooked numbers by the calorie count.

In New York when label laws were passed, Bloom said, Starbucks reformulated many of its recipes to cut 50 to100 calories from several pastries.

Because California restaurants are waiting on the federal bill, few within the state have researched the consumer effects of the state law. Researchers elsewhere have done a variety of studies with interesting results, however.

A recent study out of Seattle found that customers did not change their ordering habits with the addition of menu labels. Researchers used sales data from franchises of the fast food restaurant “Taco Time” in a county that required labels and in surrounding counties that did not both before and after the labeling law went into effect.

In the conclusion of the study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers wrote, “Neither total monthly transactions nor calories per transaction were affected immediately by the legislation or affected later when calorie information was added to the drive-through menu boards.”

Number of Calories Ordered Before and After Adding Menu Labels

The researchers then offered explanations for the findings.  “It is possible that consumers do not understand or internalize the information on the menu board and the links among a poor diet, obesity, and adverse health outcomes. If consumers are unable to understand or internalize the menu postings, then mandatory menu labeling without an accompanying public health or education campaign is unlikely to be successful. This should be an area for future research.”

One of Roberto’s studies found that menu labeling did have an effect on the number of calories that a person ordered and consumed in a single meal. However, her study also tried to assess a person’s eating habits after the meal in the restaurant.

For the study, Roberto and her colleagues set up three types of menus: one without labels, one with calories labeled and one with calories labeled and a sign that stated the recommended daily calorie intake for a normal adult is 2,000 calories.  Roberto and her colleagues then documented the number of calories ordered, the number of calories eaten at the meal and the number of calories eaten later in the day after the meal.

The study showed that calorie labeling did have an effect on the number of calories eaten and consumed at a restaurant. However, the group that ordered from the calorie-labeled menu that did not have the extra information also ate far more calories post-dinner than both other groups. Therefore, the group with the calorie labels ultimately ate roughly the same amount of calories throughout the day as the people ordering from an unlabeled menu.

“The take home point from the research was the addition of a label, basically a statement the said that the daily limit of calories per day,” Roberto said, “It was something to anchor people and give them that contextual information.”

For Roberto, providing information to the public is the point of the legislation almost more than the potential health benefits. The FDA has required labels on packaged foods since the 1990’s. “We have a history of doing that on lots of different products, we have a history of knowing what we put in our bodies so I think it makes a lot of sense.”

The March Special Meatball Pepperoni footlong sub is 1310 calories. Photo: Kelsey Williams

Roberto also added, “It’s not restricting your freedom of choice at all, it’s just giving information and allowing people to make the choice for themselves.”

Restaurants changing?

While many patrons may still crave those greasy Big Macs and Whoppers, some chain restaurants in California subject to the law have changed their own practices in the same way as Starbucks in New York.

California Pizza Kitchen reformed its entire kids menu and some of its pizzas. The ingredients that got the axe: excess butter and salt. Toni Stevenson, manager of California Pizza Kitchen in Palo Alto, said that he believes patrons still continue to order what they want, but by forcing the hand of the restaurants themselves, the law is doing a public service.

“Overall it’s a good thing, but I don’t think it’s done a lot to change how consumers are eating, which isn’t necessarily good,” Stevenson said. “But guests like fatty foods—that’s just what they do. Those foods that are fatty however, are a bit healthier now that we have to post caloric values.”

Other establishments have added sections to their menus. Jamba Juice has a low-calorie section—with about 160 calories for a small—which has become incredibly popular, said Evelyn Varcia, a supervisor at Jamba Juice in Palo Alto. Whether or not having separate, “healthier” sections of a menu effects how people order is unknown, but like at Jamba Juice it was the case at Taco Time, which could have affected that study’s results.

Some places, like McDonalds, haven’t changed their menus at all in light of the bill, however.

Some food industry workers believe that patrons know what they are getting into when they go to chain restaurants, so their orders aren’t affected.

“People know what fast food is, if they choose it they want it,” said Alejandra Sedeno, manager of McDonald’s in Menlo Park, adding that healthy menu options predated the law.

Holes in California’s law?

The version of the California menu labeling law passed in 2008 was not the first incarnation of the bill. Former Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a more stringent early version. One of the reasons he did not veto the bill in 2008: it did not require labels on drive-through menus.

“Drive-throughs are required to have the brochures available upon request and have a notice of the availability at the point of sale,” Kinney said.

But Roberto found that only about one-tenth of one percent of patrons at fast food restaurants actually pursue nutritional brochures. She also found in a subsequent study that 57 percent of fast food customers went through the drive-through, meaning that the majority of customers never see nutritional facts under today’s guidelines. This, however, may be a moot point once federal legislation takes effect.

Is it worth it?

While it remains unknown exactly how effective this law is, most parties agree that it provides consumers with more information and choices, which is a good thing.

“We see this as a very simple thing,” Bloom said. “It’s providing information to consumers and they can use it or not. So it’s a little hard for us to see how this is nanny state politics. It’s just providing consumers information. We provide info on packaged food, we even provide information of what makes up clothing.”

At Chipotle, many consumers may be surprised to find out that ordering a salad isn’t necessarily a healthier option, because the dressing adds 200 calories. This is the sort of transparency Bloom is looking for.

A 2007 poll found that most Californians agreed; 84 percent supported menu labeling regardless of party affiliation, income, education, ethnicity of location.

View Video

To hear what people are saying on Twitter about menu labeling check out the following links:

“menu labeling” http://search.twitter.com/search?q=menu+labeling

“calorie labeling” http://search.twitter.com/search?q=calorie+labeling

“menulabeling” http://search.twitter.com/search?q=menulabeling

The Egyptian people reached a tipping point for historic economic trends, but online social media helped organize and connect the protestors. Social media now can bring the protestors together a second time, to contribute to a crowd-sourced documentary project: 18DaysInEgypt.

Camera-phones, flip cams, twitter and facebook are ubiquitous (yes, even in Egypt). Media from the revolution exists—and 18DaysInEgypt will organize it and ultimately create a documentary using photos, videos, tweets and facebook updates tagged with #18Days.  Visit www.18DaysInEgypt.com to participate or learn more about the project.

The famed Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto shown in 1925 at its grand opening (Photo: Palo Alto Historical Association)

“Palo Alto and the Bay Area reflect the declining number of theaters at the U.S. level,” said Sally Gifford, Public Affairs Specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Gifford cited recent statistics from the Census Bureau, which reported that nonprofit theaters are struggling. In 2002, there were 22 professional non-profit theaters operating in the Bay Area. By 2007, there were only 15.

Movie theaters are forced to compete for a decreasing customer base of wealthy and educated residents, who have traditionally kept them afloat through membership and donations.

It is not only non-profit theaters that are struggling. National chain Landmark Theatres is in direct competition with CinéArts, a property of the larger Cinemark corporation. Both chains shows independent and foreign films. “Attendance is down,” said Rachael Wordhouse-Dykema, manager of the Aquarius, a Palo Alto Landmark theater. “Landmark used to have four theaters, and, now, it only has two.”

The Peninsula was once filled with small movie theaters, but many have been converted for other uses or demolished (Doug Ray)

View Boutique Theaters in the Peninsula in a full screen map

Boutique theaters also face competition from the growth of high definition technology. Moreover, the increase in illegal movie downloading has been a blow to all theaters across the country.

Wordhouse-Dykema said movie theaters had been hit hard in recent years. “It seems like the movie industry in general is sort of dwindling and that’s why they are bringing out these fancy features, like 3-D and the other things that draw people outside of their homes.”

John Farr, film critic for the Huffington Post, and co-founder of a non-profit theater in Stamford, Conn., said he feared that “smart people” increasingly expected to “sit there and be electrified” at the theaters.

Farr said art houses and non-profit theaters cater to an older and more affluent audience. Big budget movies offer an escapist experience, while foreign and classic films are thought provoking. “Hollywood has been serving their mainstream young teen audience,” he said with a sigh. “They care about violence, explosions and comic books.”

Bay Area boutique theater owners agreed that their films do not have mass appeal. “We get a lot of students and seniors,” admitted Rebecca MacKnight, general manager of the Palo Alto CinéArts.

According to Ross Melnick, co-founder of cinematreasures.org, “The person tends to be 15-24, better educated and richer. These films are supposed to appeal to a group interested in “higher class” film with a driven narrative versus a spectacle with ideas versus action.”

A box office clerk at the Stanford Theater, who requested to remain anonymous, said, “On University Avenue, you’ve got Stanford students and educated people and people who can appreciate black and white movies, which is for some reason considered an obstacle to the public audience”

Movie theaters must fight to survive by creating new experiences for their customers. But recent innovations have been met with varying degrees of success. While CinéArts regularly features live opera, Wordhouse-Dykema said the Aquarius Theater would not consider showing opera or live sports. She noted, “Our clientele doesn’t come here to the theater to watch the Sharks play.”

The Stanford Theater has fared better than its competitors. It has benefited from a donation from David Packard, and was restored to its former glory in the late 1980s.

“It’s a cathedral of cinema,” said the box office attendant. “It’s recreating down to the lighting in the projectors what the experience would have been like in the mid-1920s and early 1930s.”

He added, “That is the difference between the multiplexes and [this theater]. This place is about creating the experience.”

The Aquarius Theater
Section by Joe Ciolli and Doug Ray

The bright marquee of the Aquarius lights up Emerson St. in Palo Alto (Photo: Doug Ray)

Another boutique called the Guild, also owned by Landmark, is less than two miles away in Menlo Park. Rachael Wordhouse-Dykema, who serves as manager for the two theaters, said that there is definitely adequate demand for both despite their close proximity.

Aquarius competes to attract the same demographic as other boutique theaters in the Peninsula. Wordhouse-Dykema believes that the Aquarius fits well into the more educated, upscale vibe in the surrounding community. “The Palo Alto crowd really likes these artsy, intellectual films,” she said. “They go out to dinner, catch some foreign cinema. It’s a very high-brow experience.”

Despite the success of the Aquarius and Guild, Wordhouse-Dykema sees a downward trend in the movie-going experience. “Attendance is down, mostly because of the home theater trend,” she said. “A lot of people have huge theaters in their homes.”

Wordhouse-Dykema also noted that digital cable is cutting into the Aquarius’ profitability. Providers like Comcast have started making foreign films available at the same time that the Aquarius screens them.

To complicate matters further, the Aquarius competes against not only other boutique theaters, but also large multiplexes. However, Wordhouse-Dykema thinks that the theater does well to differentiate itself.

“We offer more intellectual fare than the bigger theaters,” she said. “We know a lot of regulars by name. And all our employees are willing to sit down and chat about what’s coming out.”

Wordhouse-Dykema said CinéArts bought the Palo Alto Square theater from under Landmark’s nose. She said the lease was near its end, and landmark was going to renew, but CinéArts made a quick purchase. “CinéArts is directly competing for our business,” she said.

But how exactly do boutique theaters like the Aquarius make money? Look no further than the concession counter.

“We make much more money off concessions than anything else, which is why prices are so high,” said Wordhouse-Dykema. “We make a very small percentage of the ticket price.”

Wordhouse-Dykema noted that the staff at the Aquarius tries to counterbalance these high prices with good customer service. After all, the theater is hamstrung by a lack of revenue streams. While multiplexes pad their profitability with pre-show advertising, this is a luxury many boutique theaters don’t enjoy.

Take a look inside the Aquarius (Doug Ray and Joe Ciolli)

Stanford Theater
Section by Elyse Cummins and Erik Lorig

The Stanford Theater is run as a non-profit organization (Photo: Erik Lorig)

The historic facade and Egyptian-themed interior of the one-screen theater exist in their original form. People strolling the avenue have the opportunity to see original film posters in the windows outside and can then purchase a ticket at the single seated box office window.

Notice the intricately designed tiles on the floor, or the elaborately painted walls highlighted by chandeliers. At the low priced concessions stand, popcorn and beverages are priced lower than the tickets. Before the projectors start rolling, the theatre provides an organ prelude for the audience. After the music stops, the curtain opens and the silver screen stars come back to life.

Built in 1925, the movie house was close to being shut down after profits took a nosedive. It was only the generosity of David Packard in 1987 that saved the theater. The cinema retains its nostalgic roots. Movies from the 1940s, to the 1960s are showcased here.

The Stanford Theater still makes no profit from its movie tickets or concession stands. In fact, in the age of $8 dollars for a large popcorn and $6 for a large soda, it is refreshing that the theater still charges only $7 for a ticket and $2 for a medium sized popcorn.

At the theater level, concessions are the biggest means of generating revenue (Elyse Cummins)

All of its money now goes to helping other older films get restored. The employee said, “All the money that this theater makes goes toward restoring [film] prints.” An online history of the theater, the Palo Alto History Project, reiterates the film profits now go to restoring old film prints on highly flammable nitrate stock, which they say can run upwards of $10,000 dollars a film.

Listen to the perspective of the Stanford Theater box office attendant (Erik Lorig, Elyse Cummins and Joe Ciolli)

The box office employee said that through the generosity of Packard and the Stanford Film Preservation Society working with the Library of Congress and UCLA. “These film prints that are authentic from the golden age of cinema [are being] restored.”

But just because it plays old films, it would be a mistake to claim the theater is strictly for those old enough to have been alive during the film’s original theatrical release. Packard was quoted in The San Francisco Chronicle that he resented the implication that seniors made up most of the audience. He said that in one weekend only 140 tickets of 928 were sold to seniors.

The Stanford Theater has become a beacon of cinematic history. With its historic facade standing proud on a street dominated with the new, sleek stores and Tesla Roadsters lining both sides of the tree shaded sidewalk, the theater looks to stick around for a long time. In a town constantly looking for the next new thing, the theater stands as a homage to the past.

The rise of ‘multiplex’ theaters has forced many smaller theaters to close. This map includes the locations of all theaters that have existed in the Peninsula (Doug Ray)

View Peninsula Movie Theaters (Past and Present) in a full screen map

This week, U.S. News & World Report checked in on the universities that produce the most internships. The list is a timely reminder of how important internships are to students and how career services centers operate at universities.

The missing ingredients from the report, though, are an X factor — hustle on the part of students — and a $ factor — whether or not the internships pay.

Through 20 years of journalism recruiting, I periodically have run into college students who complained that career services did not find them an internship. That is not the way things work. Such dependency makes me wonder how the student will survive later when, clearly, he or she will have to find jobs for themselves. When I hear a student complain that someone else has not worked hard enough to find work for him or her, I move that student down my list.

The best interns are self-starters who land multiple internships. They work with a school’s career services center — if they are lucky enough to have such a resource — but they do not cede responsibility for their future. They do not use it as a scapegoat for their lack of offers in a lousy economy. [snip]

Read more here.

For nearly three weeks, Egyptians documented their revolution through tweets, texts, photos, and thousands of hours of video. As the country eases into its new freedom, this content remains scattered across the Internet. “People in Egypt have to find jobs and move on to the next part of the movement,” says Jigar Mehta. So he’s decided to take on the challenge of collecting those fragments himself. Mehta, a Knight Fellow at Stanford and former New York Times video journalist, is curating this leftover mass of amateur media into an interactive documentary project, 18daysinEgypt.

(Joshua Hicks, Julia James, Alex Loukas, Christ Parks and Nicolas Ruhl contributed to this report)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to review stricter guidelines for the National School Lunch Program beginning in April. The new proposal calls for more fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as well as less salt and fewer calories.

But implementing those changes could require a miracle on the part of Bill Shuster, who coordinates school lunches for five high schools in the Fremont School District of Sunnyvale, Calif.

A lunch at one of his district’s high schools costs $3.50 per student, but $2.40 of that goes toward workers who enjoy protection from the state’s powerful classified school employees union. That means Shuster has to turn $1.10 into a meal that satisfies hungry teens, not to mention chapters of bureaucratic code.

The Washington, D.C.-based Institute of Medicine created the new school nutrition guidelines with oversight from First Lady Michelle Obama. The proposed changes fill a 73-page document that sits heavily on Shuster’s desk.

President Obama devoted $4.5 billion to the cause in December by signing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Shuster claims that isn’t nearly enough.

“Sounds like a lot of sexy money, but it’s only six cents a meal,” he said. “That’s it. We’ll all get a whopping six cents to do what they’re asking.”

Skyrocketing obesity and Type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes rates helped prompt Michelle Obama’s fitness and nutrition initiatives.

Reports from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention show 35 percent of Americans age 20 years or older had pre-diabetes in 2008, and 1.9 million people in the same age range were newly diagnosed with diabetes in 2010.

The California Department of Public Health reports that the prevalence of diabetes in pregnant women – known as gestational diabetes –increased 60 percent in the state between 1997 and 2005.

Researchers have long pointed to obesity as a major factor for development of Type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes. But they are focusing less these days on the role obesity plays in determining health problems, and more on the role of sugar and salt.

The American Heart Association in January called for stricter guidelines on sodium consumption; and medical professionals gathered this month at the University of California, Davis to discuss research that links consumption of sugar-sweetened foods with symptoms of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, increased triglycerides, fatty liver, and harmful fat deposits.

“It’s not just the fact that people are getting fat,” said Dr. Kimber Stanhope, who helped author the UC Davis study. “It’s what they’re eating that matters.”

Many school districts pay minimal attention to sugar intake. They’re busy meeting the complex and rigid parameters of federal and state law.

Alva Spence, the nutrition services manager for Silicon Valley’s Palo Alto Unified School District, wrote in an e-mail: “We are not specifically monitoring sugar intake within the district, we are just adhering to the regulations and requirements set forth by (California law) and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.”

Most schools in California base their nutrition programs on the National School Lunch Program and California laws S.B. 12 and S.B. 965, which state lawmakers passed more than 15 years ago.

National guidelines require schools to maintain menu and production records to show that they have met one-third of the recommended dietary allowances for protein, calcium, iron, vitamins A and C, and calorie levels. They also call for foods that are low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.

California’s guidelines place limitations on ingredients like sugar and saturated fat: 35 percent of total food weight for sugar, 35 percent of total calories from fat, and 10 percent of total calories for saturated fat. They also place limitations on beverages, restricting any added sweetener in water and juices.

See what snacks meet California’s middle and high school standards
Click here for a snack food calculator

Disparity between sugar-intake recommendations from the American Heart Association, Institute of Medicine, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mayo Clinic, and Center for Disease Control. (Chart by Christy Park)

Regulations abound when it comes to school nutrition. The question is whether those limits are strict enough. Stanhope said researchers need to do more studies on the subject, especially since experts disagree vastly over how much sugar is too much.

The Institute for Medicine of the National Academies in 2002 recommended a maximum 25 percent energy intake from added sugars, noting there is no evidence to suggest negative health impacts from excessive consumption.

U.S. Dietary Guidelines from 2005 proposed a lower limit of 13 percent sugar, while the American Heart Association recommends even less – below the amount that most single cans of soda provide.

Implementing new guidelines in cafeterias is no simple matter. Mountains of paperwork at the federal, state and local levels govern what nutrition coordinators must do.

Shuster swears the only government function that requires more paperwork than school lunches is tax processing. He has worked on dining plans for institutions ranging from restaurants and corporations to hospitals and prisons.

“I’ve been through all that stuff,” he said. “This is the simplest food, in my opinion. It’s not rocket science. But the paperwork makes it more difficult than any other venues I’ve been in.”

Shuster also said that school administrators tend to look at student health as a secondary concern, with academic performance being the top priority.

“The number one thing is, kids are here to learn,” he said. “Food unfortunately goes on the back burner, no pun intended.”

The 2010 election suggests Americans are reluctant to increase spending on public programs, what with taxpayers voting so many budget hawks into Congress. But the benefits of tackling nutrition problems could go a long way toward people’s bottom lines.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that the burden of diabetes and pre-diabetes is $700 for every man, woman, and child in the country, representing a sort of “hidden tax” through higher insurance premiums.

Shuster said he would need around $4.50 per student for food costs – not counting the money that pays for employees – to produce a high-quality school lunch. That’s more than four times his current budget.

“Everybody’s talking about obesity, nutrition, how breakfast is more important,” Shuster said. “Is it really a priority, though? Not really.”

Nutritional standards won’t solve everything, regardless of how good they are. That’s partly because students don’t always accept what’s on the school menu.

Fremont has an open-campus policy, meaning kids can opt for nearby fast-food restaurants if they choose. Those who stay don’t always want the healthier items that their schools provide.

Paula Lopez is the food service manager for Fremont High School. She said students often pass on fruits and vegetables.

“I check their plates to make sure they’re getting their requirements that they’re supposed to get,” she said. “They don’t have to take it if they don’t want to, but we’re offering it.”

How much bang do you get for your nutritional buck?

The chart above shows nutritional units per dollar provided by various fast-food restaurants near Fremont High School.

My bad. Forgot to tell you how to post the final assignments. As a result of my negligence, the deadline for posting your final report is extended to 4:00 p.m. Monday March 7.

Here’s the multi-part drill:

Each team should designate one member to post the complete final report … all components, including headline, bylines, text, graphics, audio, video, etc … to the www.newnooz.com/wp-admin website.

Log-in name: [sent to y'all by email]
Password: [ditto]

The postings MUST be complete by 4:00 p.m. (Pacific) Monday March 7.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

Each team member MUST ALSO POST his/her contributions to his/her own website. If your contribution was doing a chart, post the chart on your own website. If you took photos, post the photos. If you reported, post your story. The deadline is the same as for the team report, 4:00 p.m. Monday.

AND MORE:

We’re back in our usual classroom for Tuesday’s last class.

We’ll use my laptop to display your final projects from www.newnooz.com

Each team will have 10 to 15 minutes to discuss the final project and talk about how they assembled it, and what their plans are to extend the reach of the story via social media. The order of presentation will be determined by drawing.

There will be a panel of reviewers.

AND EVEN MORE:

As for grading:

I will grade the final reports using this complex and confusing formula:

A composite team score for the report as a whole, from 0 to 10, with 10 being a technically flawless presentation of a compelling news story based on firm news judgment and solid reporting, with no holes, and 0 being a report that is not turned in on time. There will be a panel of four judges, of whom I am one. My vote gets counted twice. Hence, there are effectively five scorers. The scores will be totaled and divided by five to arrive at the TEAM SCORE.

An individual score for each person’s contribution to the report. Again, four judges. But this time, Professor McGhee’s vote gets counted twice on any data visualizations/graphics, my vote gets counted twice for writing, etc. The scores will be totaled and divided by five to yield the INDIVIDUAL SCORE.

Each of you will then grade the other individual members of your team. Example: Juan is a member of TEAM SPORTS. The other members of the team are Alice, Dick, Jane and Spot. Juan sends an email to the professor assigning a grade (again, 0 to 10, with 0 being Totally Worthless, and 10 being a Total Bitchin Rock Star From Mars) for himself and for each of the other members. E.g.:

From: Juan
Subject: Grades
Date:     March 7, 2011 7:58:30 PM PST
To:     Peter Lewis

Me: 10
Alice: 8
Dick: 6
Jane: 10
Spot: 0

Note that you must grade yourself as well as the other team members. The SELF-GRADED email must be sent to me by 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, March 8.

These emails will be held in the strictest confidence and will not be shared with ANYONE. PERIOD. And be forewarned, I use a secret formula to penalize those who conspire to give each other high grades (“I’ll give you a 10 if you give me a 10″).

The TEAM, INDIVIDUAL, and SELF-GRADED grades will then be added together.

Questions? I’ll be in my office all day Monday and Tuesday before class.

Professor Pete