U.S. schools have made strides to promote healthier students

There is still room for improvement in U.S. schools in terms of overall student health, but great strides have been made by many districts in recent years in terms of removing junk food from schools and promoting more physical exercise among students.

A new report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) -- called the School Health Policies and Programs Study 2006 -- was released last week and noted the list of improvements from schools across the country.

It's taken a long time, but perhaps the obesity epidemic has finally caused health officials to look hard at the massive marketing and variety of unhealthy habits pushed onto school-aged children. Banning vending machines and requiring some type of physical exercise is a great start, and one I hope will last. Next up: parental responsibility outside of school initiatives. Let's just see what happens there.