Presently, with hopes to conquer the increasing epidemic of childhood obesity, the Obama Administration has teamed with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to raise nutritional standards of public school meals. Under a federal law proposed in December 2010, caloric intake will significantly decrease over the course of a decade for children participating in the school lunch and breakfast programs (Nixon, 2011).
Critics assume battling childhood obesity will lower risks for diseases such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and high-cholesterol into adulthood.
For many families, providing healthy foods for their children is limited due to sub par economic standing. This paper explores several important factors including, the economic factors associated with school lunch programs, the needs of the children, and the benefits of change. ECONOMIC FACTORS One of the many economic factors contributing to nutrition in public schools is cost. In the last five years the average annual cost of school lunch programs surpassed forty million dollars (school nutrition Association).
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As proven by many nutritionists and dietary specialist alike, cost of healthy meals exceeds fast food and unhealthy meals. A family of four going to McDonald’s may spend approximately $8-10 for burgers and fries for everyone, however, the same family going to a restaurant and eating a meal containing less saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol will pay around $50 for a low fat meal. Similar to families, schools find there is a constant strain between providing healthy meal choices and the demanding cost for such alternatives when less healthy meals are often cheaper.
Under the proposed plan by the Obama administration, nutritious meals in school will come at an increased price. Many essential food items needed for balanced school meals are increasing cost wise and raising the payout for these items. According to the SNA schools are experiencing double-digit increases in costs of products, thus gradually raising costs of lunches until prices for paid lunches nationwide reach $2. 46 (see table 1) (School Nutrition Association).
In addition to cost, another economic factor which has an effect on school nutrition is high and steady increasing unemployment rates.
Most school resources are secured through tax funding. With a growing number of Americans unemployed budget cuts are almost always made in schools. With an alarming amount of budget cuts schools are unable to implement the proposed nutrition plan quickly as needed and plans to spread the participation adherence to accommodate each school district (School Nutrition Association).
NEEDS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN One of the main concerns in the needs of children would be intake of proper nutrition. In 1992, the USDA introduced the food pyramid indicating five food groups that were essential to growth and development.
Americans were urged to eat the recommended servings of each group: the bread, cereal, rice, and pasta group which required 6-11 servings daily; the vegetable group which requires 3-5 servings; the fruit group, requiring 2-4 servings; the milk, yogurt and cheese group, requesting 2-3 servings and lastly the meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts group which indicated 2-3 daily servings which could potentially maximize health and development (Neuman, 2011) (Figure 2).
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The above mentioned nutrition plan was promoted to assist with nutrients your body needs to perform adequately.
As the Obama Administration pushed for a healthier America, especially for children, a revised version of the pyramid was created in 2011 called “my plate” indicating increased amounts of fruits and vegetables were essential in cutting fatty foods and snacks from their diets(Neuman, 2011) (Figure 3).
Fruits and vegetables in our diets also provide our bodies with nutrients that help our digestive tract, fight off infection, assist in healing, assist muscle functions, and keep your heart healthy among other things.
Another issue with obese children and nutrition is a lack of exercise and the ability to eat unhealthy foods from home and the school cafeteria. Studies show that children who engage in some kind of physical activity increase their life expectancy and have a higher self-esteem. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends children and adolescents participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate physical activity daily to decrease risks for cardiovascular diseases and other health problems (AHA Scientific Position , 2012).
In many school districts children participate in physical education as near to lunch as possible to assist in burning calories accumulated from breakfast and lunch; this may be the only exercise some children receive after the school day is complete. BENEFITS OF CHANGE The first significant benefits of change in school nutrition are healthier children. Since children learn what they live, to show them how to make healthy eating choices early in life will carry on to adulthood. The history of the National School lunch Program (NSLP) dates back to 1946 as President Harry S.
Truman signed the NSLP act as “a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities. ” (School Nutrition Association).
President Truman experienced men rejected from draft into World War II due to health problems and decided to start rebuilding healthy eating habits with children’s nutrition (School Nutrition Association).
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Along with healthier children, another benefit of change in school nutrition is providing an economical way to accommodate for a significant amount of the student’s daily nutritional requirements.
Depending on the age of the child, nutritional value varies substantially. For instance a 2-3 year old child requires 14-19 grams of fiber and a 4-8 year old child’s recommendation are 19-23 grams of fiber (Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, 2007).
A family that has several children and possible in economic distress may have a hard time supplying recommended daily nutrients. With this change, students are allowed extra nutrition which they may lack from home. In conclusion, it is important to know the difficulties school children have with nutrition.
As this paper outlined, many adulthood health problems arise beginning with unhealthy children. School nutrition programs are making a conscientious effort to provide portions of daily recommended nutrients and exercise in an attempt to decrease the obesity in children.
