The success of early learning efforts depends on healthy students, but if children are not eating right it seems likely the odds they will struggle in classrooms will rise. The problem? There hasn’t been progress in reducing childhood obesity among poor preschoolers in recent years.

The percentage of obese preschool-aged students remained stuck at roughly 14.6 percent from 2003 to 2008, after spiking from 12.4 percent in 1998, the Centers for Disease Control reported.

This is important on a variety of levels. If we want to get children from low-income families onto the same academic footing as other students by kindergarten they should be ready to learn in preschool, and good nutrition is a building block of school readiness.

Plus, obesity in preschool is often a red flag that warns of future problems, the CDC warns.

“Childhood obesity continues to be a leading public health concern that disproportionately affects low-income and minority children. Children who are obese in their preschool years are more likely to be obese in adolescence and adulthood and to develop diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, asthma, and sleep apnea.” – “Obesity Prevalence Among Low-Income, Preschool-Aged Children – United States, 1998—2008,” July, 2009.  (See full text for footnotes.)

I began thinking about the importance of nutrition in early learning after reading an excellent story on MSNBC.com today, “Day care next frontier in fighting kids' obesity: 'Elementary school is too late,' say proponents of fledgling movement.

The Associated Press article points out few states have nutrition and physical activity requirements for child care facilities. (Check out the full story. It is a quick and information-packed read.)

This isn’t surprising because you don’t often hear nutrition mentioned in debates over how to boost quality in child care and at preschools. I know the topic is on the minds of educators and advocates, but perhaps with more than 14 percent of preschoolers obese it deserves a higher profile.