《517888九五至尊娱乐》的教训

儿童肥胖的代价

Obesity rates among children nearly tripled between 1970 and 2000; today approximately 16% of US youth are classified as obese. 肥胖对少数族裔儿童的影响尤为严重, 特别是近年来:自2000年以来, 白人儿童肥胖率的上升已趋于平稳, 但黑人和西班牙裔儿童的失业率继续攀升.

Obese children are 10 times more likely than their peers to become obese adults—and adult obesity has serious health consequences, 包括II型糖尿病的风险增加, 高血压。, 还有其他慢性疾病. 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.

Childhood obesity also plays a key role in a cycle that can trap low-income children: poor health and missed school days result in lower academic achievement, which leads to lower-paying jobs—and low incomes make it harder to maintain healthy lifestyles. 

学校午餐的作用

Healthy school lunches can be a key factor in breaking this cycle by improving kids’ diets. Children consume about half of their daily calories at school; for low-income children, 学校午餐可能是他们一天中唯一真正的一餐. 孩子们在学校吃的食物会影响他们一生的饮食习惯.

几十年来，美国一直在努力.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has administered school meal programs that provide funding to support free and reduced-price (FRP) meals for students who meet income eligibility criteria. 该计划提供的膳食必须符合营养标准.

近几十年来, 受补贴的学校膳食倾向于高脂肪的加工食品, 糖, 和钠. 为了应对这些趋势, 国会通过了, 2010年《517888九五至尊娱乐》, which required the USDA to update its standards for school meals to align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 学校从2012年开始实施这些新标准.

学校午餐是有效的，但它面临着一场艰苦的战斗

The report shows that school lunch programs have a positive impact on the eating habits of students. 五年级FRP餐参与者吃了22种水果和蔬菜.平均每周2次，而不是18次.非frp参与者为9次. 而两组人在八年级时都吃了更少的水果和蔬菜, 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, the positive impact of school food programs is not strong enough to overcome other unhealthy influences on children’s diet. Our analysis found that FRP meal participants drank more 糖y beverages and ate more fast food than their peers, and they were more likely to be obese—gaps that widened between 5th and 8th grade.

更严格的标准会有所不同

Starting in 2012, schools began to implement the stronger nutrition standards mandated by HFFKA. While researchers are still in the early stages of evaluating the effectiveness of the updated standards, 到目前为止，证据是有希望的. For example, a 2014 Harvard School of Health study found that vegetable consumption increased by 16.在四所低收入学校实施的第一年，这一比例为2%. 其他 studies have shown that changes to the way 健康的食物s are presented and marketed in the cafeteria can have significant benefits.

建议

Stronger school lunch policies have made a positive difference in children’s diets—and Congress needs to build on these gains by improving those policies further. The report has several specific recommendations for Congress as it renews the HHFKA in 2015:

• 保护2010年取得的成果
• 提高联邦膳食报销率
• 加强营养教育
• 财务学校食堂厨房设备
• 优先选择水果和蔬菜
• 增加“从农场到学校”补助计划的资金
• 不要让政治压倒617888九五至尊娱乐