Assessing Federal nutrition standards for school meals in the context of obesity prevention: How limiting dietary fats and promoting grains may be doing more harm than good

Assessing Federal nutrition standards for school meals in the context of obesity prevention: how limiting dietary fats and promoting grains may be doing more harm than good    

Issues: New nutrition and obesity research suggests that reducing dietary-fat intake and increasing grain consumption may cause weight gain, instead of weight loss. The National School Lunch Program (NLSP) requires meals to satisfy these low-fat and high-grain standards, potentially adding to growing child and adolescent obesity rates.

Description: 1994 changes in the NSLP required limitations on fat-content in school meals for the first time in program history. The 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) further restricted dietary-fat content in school meals and emphasized grain consumption. School meals can account for more than 50% of a student’s daily caloric intake, and over 30 million children participate in the program. Childhood and adolescent obesity rates have more than tripled since 1970.

Lessons Learned: New research suggests that the low-fat, grain-based meals required by the NSLP may promote weight gain in children and adolescents who participate in the program. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which inform NSLP nutrition requirements, do not reflect recent findings that suggest low-fat, high-carb diets lead to weight gain.

Recommendations: The dietary requirements for school meals are at odds with current research, and are potentially contributing to the obesity epidemic. New national nutrition standards should be introduced to de-emphasize the importance of grains and limitations on dietary-fat intake with the goal of decreasing child and adolescent obesity.