Childhood Obesity: Are School Lunches Contributing?
Whoever said breakfast was the most important meal of the day has never seen a school lunch before.
If you have ever eaten a school lunch before you probably remember walking through the lunch line. Examining each option like it’s a science project, stirring the questionable lima beans and sifting through the brownish colored lettuce. Your choice is important because it has to last you through the next few hours. So, you pick up a slice of pizza, a fruit cup and a brownie, the safest choice. By the time you get home from school you are already scanning the pantry for snacks.
Are school lunches the reason one in five school aged children suffer from obesity? Professor Lee Murphy at the University of Tennessee Knoxville said childhood obesity is an epidemic for a number of reasons, one being what children are eating.
“Sugary drinks are probably the biggest nutritional component because kids don’t realize that juices and juice drinks and Gatorade are really just sugar water,” she said.
Professor Murphy spent nearly 10 years working for the health department before joining the nutrition department at UT.
With three children of her own Professor Murphy said she gives her children autonomy on choosing their food but she believes in three words to maintain health.
“Balance, variety, and moderation are just true for everything in life but especially with food,” she said.
For a child balance, variety, and moderation are close to impossible. The average school aged child spends six to seven hours a day in school with at least 20 minutes of recess. Just think, if that child does not play a sport that most likely means they are only getting 20 minutes of exercise a day. To live a healthy life, children should get up to 60 minutes of exercise per day.
“I think the biggest factor is manifold but one of the biggest things is sedimentary activities,” Professor Murphy said.
According to the CDC, the percentage of children affected by obesity has more than tripled since the 1970s. In today’s society kids are coming home from school and they are snacking on foods high in sugars and fats while sitting down playing on devices. Professor Murphy said parents should be limiting their children’s screen time and providing healthier foods in the house to avoid risk of obesity.
Parents may have control over what they feed their children at home, but what are the schools feeding children? The ECFR requires schools offer one meat, two pieces of fruit and vegetables, and one milk per meal. Although, the “one meat” tend to look frozen and breaded and the “two pieces of fruit” look a lot like a fruit cup. Even if schools are providing these meals it is up to the child to choose what they want to eat.
Doctoral student Sa’Nealdra Wiggins studies nutrition at UT and works with food programs for the university.
“In one of my classes we worked with the afterschool dinners here as far what they can provide and for instance they can have Cheez-Its and I was questioning why Cheez-Its were in the meal but its because Cheez-Its are whole grain,” she said.
Wiggins said Tennessee regulations for school lunches are well executed but sometimes there are loopholes in what schools are allowed to provide.
“I think that when you teach a child to pick up those bad habits when they are young I think that sometimes becomes a safe place,” she said.
Wiggins fears children facing obesity will suffer in their adult life mentally and physically and they will use food as a comforting tool.
As children get older their metabolism changes and shrinking fat cells becomes more difficult. Children with obesity are at risk of health problems like asthma, Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Many may not know that Type 2 diabetes was originally called “adult onset diabetes.” The increase in children diagnosed with diabetes lead to a change in the name of the disease. Now children and adults may be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and it is overall caused by an unhealthy lifestyle. Being diagnosed with such a detrimental disease at a young age increases a child’s risk of health complications in their adult life.
Right about now you’re thinking you wish someone had warned you those pizzas and brownies were going to have a bigger impact. Professor Murphy made a good point in saying obesity is not going to disappear over night but its also not going to happen overnight. Eating habits and exercise are learned behaviors and children are very easily influenced. Especially when their favorite characters are the shape of macaroni and on the face of cereal boxes.
“We talked about marketing in one of my classes and how they place certain products eye level with little kids and they gave the example of cereal brands so on the top shelves you have Raisin Bran and the Special K but then on the bottom shelves you have the Frosted Flakes and Cinnamon Toast Crunch,” Wiggins said.
Just like the way food is marketed in stores, the food in public schools should be marketed to children with a positive approach. Schools may be legally obligated to offer healthy choices, but if the children are not eating the healthy food then what is the point?
Wiggins said part of her involvement in campus nutrition is determining whether the food provided looks desirable.
From the way food is marketed to the way food is served, school lunches can have an impact on a child’s health. Imagine being a kid again and instead of choosing between a fruit cup and brown lettuce you are able to choose between a fruit assortment and a super food salad. Children are not able to choose things for themselves as liberally as adults. To whoever decided breakfast was the most important meal of the day, look at what is being served to children at lunchtime. The choices children are offered are either undesirable or unhealthy. It is time you face the choice between canned lima beans or hot pizza. You would choose the pizza too.
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References
“Childhood Obesity Facts.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
“Electronic Code of Federal Regulations” ECFR
