Sorry kids, say goodbye to chips, tater tots and chocolate milk. In a move to change the practices of school lunch services that have helped drive the United States into a state of obesity emergency, the USDA made public new recommendations to overhaul the 15 year old methods being used in our children’s schools that affect more than 32 million American students.

Salt content would be cut by more than half, reduced fat milk products would be the norm and all grains would be whole, and even though veggies are good for you, kids don’t need the starch that is contained in potatoes for example, so those would be limited to a cup serving a week.

Health professionals have described child obesity as a national epidemic. About nine million kids are affected. That amounts to 15% of American children, aged 6 to 11 years, who are considerably overweight and according to 2008 statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 17% of children and adolescents 2 to 19 years old are obese.

This number has actually tripled in the past 30 years. And the rates for obesity are actually greater for minority children. Over 25% of Black and Hispanic kids are overweight.

Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater. BMI is calculated from a person’s weight and height and provides a reasonable indicator of body fatness and weight categories that may lead to health problems. Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes.

During the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States. In 2009, only Colorado and the District of Columbia had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%.

Thirty-three states had a prevalence equal to or greater than 25%; nine of these states (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%.

Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack states:

“The United States is facing an obesity epidemic and the crisis of poor diets threatens the future of our children and our nation. With many children consuming as many as half their daily calories at school, strengthening nutritional standards is an important step in the Obama administration’s effort to combat childhood obesity and improve the health and wellbeing of all our kids. If we don’t contain obesity in this country, it’s going to eat us alive in terms of health care costs.”

The announcement comes after President Barack Obama signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on December 13, 2010 that will help schools pay for the healthier foods, which often are more expensive. This new law is meant to encourage better eating habits in part by giving the federal government more authority to set standards for food sold in vending machines and elsewhere on school grounds.

Mr. Vilsack said he understood that the new standards may pose some challenges for school districts but said they were necessary. Among other things, the $4.5 billion measure provides more money to poor areas to subsidize free meals and requires schools to abide by health guidelines drafted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To help offset the higher cost of including more fruits and vegetables, the bill increases the reimbursement rate for school lunches.

That new law also will extend similar nutrition standards to foods sold in schools that are not subsidized by the government, including snacks in vending machines.

Today’s announcement is a proposal and it could be several years before the USDA issues a final rule on the standards and schools are required to make changes. The Agriculture Department also is planning to release new dietary guidelines for the general public, possibly as soon as this month. Those guidelines, revised every five years, are similarly expected to encourage less sodium consumption and more grains, fruits and vegetables.

Source: USDA

Written by Sy Kraft, B.A.