Lessons from the Lunchroom

The costs of childhood obesity

Obesity rates among children nearly tripled between 1970 and 2000; today approximately 16% of US youth are classified as obese. Obesity has disproportionately affected minority children, especially in recent years: since 2000, the rise in obesity rates has leveled off for white children, but it continues to climb for Black and Hispanic children.

肥胖儿童成为肥胖成人的可能性是同龄人的10倍，而成人肥胖会对健康造成严重影响, including increased risk of type II diabetes, 高血压, and other chronic diseases. These impacts not only mean shorter and less fulfilling lives for millions of people; they also carry a heavy price tag in health care costs.

儿童肥胖还在一个可能使低收入儿童陷入困境的循环中起着关键作用:健康状况不佳和缺课导致学业成绩下降, 是什么导致了低工资的517888九五至尊娱乐——而低收入使得保持健康的生活方式变得更加困难. 

The role of school lunch

通过改善孩子们的饮食，健康的学校午餐可以成为打破这种循环的关键因素. Children consume about half of their daily calories at school; for low-income children, school lunch may be their only real meal of the day. And the foods kids eat at school influence their lifelong eating habits.

几十年来，美国一直在努力.S. 农业部(USDA)实施了学校供餐计划，为符合收入资格标准的学生提供免费和减价供餐. Meals offered under the program must meet nutritional standards.

近几十年来, subsidized school meals had tilted toward processed foods high in fat, 糖, 和钠. In response to these trends, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010, 要求美国农业部更新其学校膳食标准以符合美国人膳食指南. Schools began implementing these new standards in 2012.

School lunch works—but it faces an uphill battle

报告显示，学校午餐计划对学生的饮食习惯产生了积极的影响. Fifth grade FRP meal participants ate fruits and vegetables 22.2 times per week on average, versus 18.9 times for non-FRP participants. While both groups ate fewer fruits and vegetables in eighth grade, FRP meal participants continued to eat them more often than their non-FRP peers (19.2 vs. 17.每周6次).

不幸的是, 学校食品计划的积极影响不足以克服对儿童饮食的其他不健康影响. 我们的分析发现，FRP餐参与者比同龄人喝更多的含糖饮料，吃更多的快餐, and they were more likely to be obese—gaps that widened between 5th and 8th grade.

Stronger standards make a difference

从2012年开始，学校开始执行HFFKA规定的更严格的营养标准. 虽然研究人员仍处于评估新标准有效性的早期阶段, the evidence so far is promising. 例如，2014年哈佛大学健康学院的一项研究发现，蔬菜消费量增加了16%.2 percent in the first year of implementation at four low-income schools. 其他研究表明，改变健康食品在自助餐厅的展示和销售方式可以带来显著的好处.

建议

更强有力的学校午餐政策已经对儿童的饮食产生了积极的影响，国会需要在这些成果的基础上进一步改善这些政策. 该报告对国会在2015年更新HHFKA提出了几项具体建议:

• Protect gains made in 2010
• Increase the federal meal reimbursement rate
• Improve nutrition education
• Finance school cafeteria kitchen equipment
• Prioritize fruits and vegetables
• Increase funding for the Farm to School grant program
• Not allow politics to trump science