Nearly a dozen U.S. senators have expressed concerns that new school nutrition programs are too rigid to the detriment of some children including kids from low-income families.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has implemented changes to the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program, partly responding to an obesity epidemic impacting kids.
Lawmakers are generally fond of the changes, as directed by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, although they worry that a lack of flexibility in the national programs is preventing at least some kids from getting the calories and protein they need.
"As a deterrent to chronic disease onset especially early on in life, we support the promotion of nutrition principles in American schools. Along with similarly important principles of physical activity and adequate health education, proper nutrition is foundational for successfully preventing debilitating chronic disease," wrote 11 senators in a letter recently sent to Agriculture Department Secretary Thomas Vilsack.
"However, the children, parents, and school systems attempting to comply with these new school meal standards have found that they lack the flexibility necessary to meet the nutrition needs of many growing boys and girls," added the lawmakers, who hail from Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.
The senators, for instance, questioned a 2012 program with a maximum calorie limit without taking into account certain factors, such as the weight, height and physical activity of a student. One parent complained her kids who rank in the 99th percentile (for their height in their age group) are hungry in the afternoon due to the calorie restrictions, the letter pointed out. A school superintendent observed lunch is the primary, and sometimes only, meal of the day for kids from low-income families.
"In such cases, these students have fewer financial resources to supplement school meals with snacks to maintain satiety, as compared to other students," wrote the senators, who also expressed concerns that some children might not be obtaining enough daily protein.
In January, USDA announced that the new meal requirements would raise standards for the first time in more than 15 years for the 32 million kids who participate in school meal programs. The final standards incorporate such changes as ensuring kids are offered fruits and vegetables every day and increasing the focus on reducing the amounts of fat and sodium in meals.
The changes could help fight childhood obesity, which has more than tripled in the past 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has implemented changes to the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program, partly responding to an obesity epidemic impacting kids.
Lawmakers are generally fond of the changes, as directed by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, although they worry that a lack of flexibility in the national programs is preventing at least some kids from getting the calories and protein they need.
"As a deterrent to chronic disease onset especially early on in life, we support the promotion of nutrition principles in American schools. Along with similarly important principles of physical activity and adequate health education, proper nutrition is foundational for successfully preventing debilitating chronic disease," wrote 11 senators in a letter recently sent to Agriculture Department Secretary Thomas Vilsack.
"However, the children, parents, and school systems attempting to comply with these new school meal standards have found that they lack the flexibility necessary to meet the nutrition needs of many growing boys and girls," added the lawmakers, who hail from Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.
The senators, for instance, questioned a 2012 program with a maximum calorie limit without taking into account certain factors, such as the weight, height and physical activity of a student. One parent complained her kids who rank in the 99th percentile (for their height in their age group) are hungry in the afternoon due to the calorie restrictions, the letter pointed out. A school superintendent observed lunch is the primary, and sometimes only, meal of the day for kids from low-income families.
"In such cases, these students have fewer financial resources to supplement school meals with snacks to maintain satiety, as compared to other students," wrote the senators, who also expressed concerns that some children might not be obtaining enough daily protein.
In January, USDA announced that the new meal requirements would raise standards for the first time in more than 15 years for the 32 million kids who participate in school meal programs. The final standards incorporate such changes as ensuring kids are offered fruits and vegetables every day and increasing the focus on reducing the amounts of fat and sodium in meals.
The changes could help fight childhood obesity, which has more than tripled in the past 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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