How healthy are the meals served in your child’s school lunchroom? As a father and a physician, I know that nutritious meals can keep kids trim and healthy and help them form good eating habits that could prevent illness later in life. Guiding kids to healthy food choices is part of every parent’s job.
But when they hit the school lunch line, it’s out of your hands. And apparently, that makes a huge difference. A study by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment revealed that Colorado children between the ages of 1 and 5 are 2.7 times more likely to eat fruits and vegetables five times each day than children of school age, who often eat both breakfast and lunch at school.
We’re facing a childhood obesity epidemic in this country, and unhealthy school meals are a key part of the problem. You might think that Colorado is a healthy state and that our children are not affected by this troubling trend. It’s true that Colorado’s obesity rates are low compared to other states — but that’s really a testament to how bad the problem has become elsewhere.
Unfortunately, more than 18 percent of adults and about 10 percent of children age 10 to 17 in our state are obese. And the trends are going in the wrong direction, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
This Thursday, here in Denver, we’ll have a chance to demand more healthful school lunches. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is holding a “listening session” on the Child Nutrition Act, the legislation that regulates federal school meal programs. The Child Nutrition Act will come before Congress for renewal next year, but it’s already being shaped at these listening sessions.
This legislation plays a critical role in determining what foods are served at schools. Every day, the National School Lunch Program and the National School Breakfast Program provide low-cost or free meals to more than 30 million children across the country. Schools that participate get cash subsidies and donated commodity foods.
Unfortunately, far too many of these meals are high in fat and cholesterol and short on fruits and vegetables–and the federal government bears a huge part of the responsibility for that problem. In a report issued this summer, the USDA admitted that just one in four elementary schools serve lunches that meet the government’s standards on fat, and just one in three meet the standards on saturated fat. For high schools, the numbers were far worse: one in 10 high schools meet standards for fat, and one in five for saturated fat.
That’s why doctors like me will be at the USDA listening session to suggest that we ask schools to reduce the amount of fat and cholesterol in meals. A great way to do this is to provide more healthful plant-based foods such as veggie burgers and hummus wraps.
Schools should also increase the amount of fiber in each meal to about 7 grams, which is one-third the daily recommended allowance. To reach this goal, schools could offer a variety of low-fat vegetable dishes and fresh or dried fruits.
The USDA also needs to make some important changes in the kinds of commodity foods it distributes to schools. Currently, the government buys millions of pounds of cheese and high-fat, high-cholesterol meat products every year and distributes them to schools. These purchases seem mainly focused on subsidizing American agribusiness, rather than supporting children’s health.
The USDA shouldn’t distribute commodity foods that derive more than 7 percent of calories from saturated fat. Also, commodity foods should never include processed meats like hot dogs and bacon, which are high in fat and linked to increased risk of cancer and diabetes in adults. Instead, the USDA should help schools get easy access to fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other healthy foods–and reward those schools that make significant efforts to improve their menus.
Parents can control their children’s diets at home, but when kids head off to kindergarten carrying their new back packs and school supplies, they’ll end up carrying trays filled with whatever food the school provides. And unless schools and the federal government team up to offer better options, that’s a pretty scary thought.
Brent Jaster, M.D., is a family physician and health consultant in Denver. EDITOR’S NOTE: This online-only guest commentary has not been edited. Guest commentary submissions of up to 650 words may be sent to openforum@denverpost.com.
