“Failing School Lunch”

 

What American school children eat for lunch is freaking out nutrition experts.  They say that kids are skipping more balanced cafeteria meals in favor of the junk food sold in vending machines and kiosks-thus setting themselves up for obesity.  According to the USDA, a pathetic 2 percent of school-aged children meet the Food Guide Pyramid nutrition recommendations.  And while 14- to 18-year-old girls have extremely low intakes of fruits and vegetables (2.8 daily servings), more than two-thirds exceed recommendations for total fat and saturated fat intake. 

 

Then there’s the soda issue.  For the first time, scientists have definitively linked soft drink consumption with childhood obesity.  The research, published in The Lancet (February, 2001), found that children who regularly drink one 12-oz. serving of soda a day are more likely to be overweight than those who don’t.  For each extra serving, the risk of obesity jumps 1.6 times.

 

National policy makers and legislators have finally turned their attention to the high-fat, high-calorie, sugar-laden snacks sold to schools.  According to the USDA’s Shirley R. Watkins, in a report to Congress, the very presence of these foods in school cafeterias sends a mixed message.  In the classroom the kids are taught about good nutrition and healthy food choices, but down the hall there’s a vending machine filled with chips, soda and candy.

 

As is usually the case, it all comes down to money.  Schools get a cut of each vending machine sale.  While the profits are put to good use-funding new computers, library books and athletic programs-the USDA believes that when sound nutrition is the bargaining chip, the cost is too high.  The agency hopes to pass legislation that ensures that all foods sold in schools meet school-lunch nutrition standards, and that all vending machine profits fund schools’ food programs.  After all, if the school kitchen doesn’t have the needed equipment to cook wholesome, nutritious meals, why bother arguing over what’s in the vending machines?

 

Vegetarian Times, September 2001