U.S. school meals may be key to better child health

By Christopher Doering

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many American children are not eating enough fruit and vegetables and their diet lacks key nutrients, according to a report released on Wednesday that focuses on school food programs as a way to help prevent long-term health problems.

School kids in the United States are getting too many calories from solid fats found in foods such as pizza and hamburgers, and sugars from candy and soda, said the report by the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academies.

“Most Americans, not just children, are not eating as balanced a diet as we want,” said Virginia Stallings, a professor at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and chair of the committee that conducted the review.

“There are so few times where we have an opportunity to touch every child’s life,” she said in an interview.

The Institute of Medicine conducted the review of the country’s school breakfast and lunch programs at the request of the U.S. Agriculture Department, which oversees them. School meal programs provide 40 million meals daily and more than half of a student’s food and nutrient intake during the school day.

Child nutrition programs, including school lunch and breakfast, are due for reauthorization by Congress in 2009.

Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, has said more emphasis should be put on getting more healthier and fresher foods into school meals.

Tom Vilsack, who was nominated for Secretary of Agriculture by President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday, said the USDA “must place nutrition at the center of all food assistance programs administered by the department.”

The 192-page review found children aged 5-18 ate 50 percent or less of the vegetables recommended by the U.S. government’s dietary guidelines, and fruit intake was 50 percent or less than the suggested amount for kids 9-18 years old.

Children also consume too much sodium as well as calories from solid fats and added sugars, the report said.

Officials at the USDA are updating the nutrition and meal requirements used for school breakfast and lunch programs, and looked for recommendations from the Institute of Medicine.

The framework, last updated in 1995, sets food and nutrient standards that must be met by school programs to qualify for cash reimbursements and food from the government.

Efforts to overhaul school nutrition programs come as obesity among children has been steadily rising.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 13.9 percent of children aged 2 to 5, 18.8 percent of those aged 6 to 11, and more than 17 percent of those 12 to 19 are overweight.

School meals are often better than what kids get on their own or bring from home, but breakfast and lunch programs need to work on reducing fat and sodium, said Jim Weill of the Food Research and Action center, an anti-hunger group.  Continued…

Source

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Posts:


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Burger King Corp, the world’s second-largest hamburger chain, on Wednesday said it will limit sodium in its “Kids Meals” and that it was the first fast-food restaurant chain to take that step. The Miami-based company said it will limit sodium to 600 milligrams or less in all of its Kids Meals advertised

Full Post: Burger King begins limiting sodium in “Kids Meals”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Harmful amounts of sodium can be found in unsalty foods such as breakfast cereal and bagels, according to Consumer Reports magazine. The group’s analysis of 37 food products found a cup of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran contains 350 milligrams of sodium, a half-cup of one brand of low-fat cottage cheese had 360 mg, and

Full Post: Salt lurks in bagels, cereal, report finds
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Joene Hendry NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - According to their parents, pre-school children have somewhat better diets than school-age children, but both groups fall short when it comes to getting recommended amounts of exercise. Dr. Hollie A. Raynor, of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and co-investigators, assessed parents’ reports of their children’s diet and activity

Full Post: Youngsters often miss diet and exercise marks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Amy Norton NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Higher-protein meals may help overweight and obese people burn more fat, the results of a small study suggest. Research has shown that overweight people are less efficient at burning fat after a meal than thinner people are. In the new study, Australian researchers looked at whether the protein composition

Full Post: High-protein meals may help overweight burn fat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are some important diet and nutrition tips that overweight women trying to lose weight should start using. These tips will help to speed up weight loss while making it easier and more enjoyable for you. Please take the next 2 minutes to read this article and consider the important points I bring up. Diet and

Full Post: Diet and Nutrition Tips For Overweight Women Trying to Lose Weight

Site Navigation

Most Read

Search

Contact

  • kinwrite.com@gmail.com