School Lunches has played a role in shaping student health and eating habits for more than 75 years. During WWII, many young recruits were rejected from joining the military due to their poor nutrition status. As a result, post WWII, President Truman signed the National School Lunch Act, in 1946. Fast forward to early 2000, Americans began to see the opposite- now young Americans were a little too well-nourished. In response to the rising cases in childhood obesity, Congress passed the 2010 Healthy-Hunger Free Kids Act(HHFKA).
The legislation was meant to strengthen and streamline nutrition standards for all meal programs across the nation. It set limits and restrictions on calories, sodium, protein, and grains. Moreover, it called for an increase offering of fruits and a variety of vegetables and outlined daily/weekly offerings as well. The new law took effect in the Fall of 2012.
August 2022, will be my 10th year in child nutrition, and there hasn't been one dull moment! I remember when I interviewed, I naively stated how glad I was that these new nutrition standards were being enforced- not knowing the amount of work or stress that would come with making menus compliant every week!
A research article, published in July 2020, entitled "Impact of The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on Obesity Trends," by Kenney, et. al, found that although there was no significant association between HHFKA and the reduction in childhood obesity, there was a correlation between the enacted legislation and the obesity prevalence for those child living in poverty.
According to the article, an "interrupted time series" was used for 2003-2018 among 173,013 youth via the National Survey of Children's Health, the obesity prevalence in children "would have been 47% higher in 2018" if HHFKA had not forced the change in nutrition standards for school meals (Kenny, et. al, 2020).
https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.0013
https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.0013https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.0013
The legislation was meant to strengthen and streamline nutrition standards for all meal programs across the nation. It set limits and restrictions on calories, sodium, protein, and grains. Moreover, it called for an increase offering of fruits and a variety of vegetables and outlined daily/weekly offerings as well. The new law took effect in the Fall of 2012.
August 2022, will be my 10th year in child nutrition, and there hasn't been one dull moment! I remember when I interviewed, I naively stated how glad I was that these new nutrition standards were being enforced- not knowing the amount of work or stress that would come with making menus compliant every week!
A research article, published in July 2020, entitled "Impact of The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on Obesity Trends," by Kenney, et. al, found that although there was no significant association between HHFKA and the reduction in childhood obesity, there was a correlation between the enacted legislation and the obesity prevalence for those child living in poverty.
According to the article, an "interrupted time series" was used for 2003-2018 among 173,013 youth via the National Survey of Children's Health, the obesity prevalence in children "would have been 47% higher in 2018" if HHFKA had not forced the change in nutrition standards for school meals (Kenny, et. al, 2020).
https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.0013
https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.0013https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.0013