School Lunches

A recent study found that children who regularly ateschool lunches were 29 percent more likely to beobese than their peers who brought lunch fromhome. Health science has advanced greatly since theinception of the National School Lunch Program in1946. When a 2008 Institute of Medicine committeecomprising 14 child-nutrition experts examined dataon the content of school lunches in the UnitedStates, its findings were stark. The updated standards aligned school meals withthe 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans byincreasing quantities of fruits, vegetables, andwhole grains; establishing calorie ranges; andlimiting trans fats and sodium. Children consume almost half of their total caloriesat school, and the National School Lunch Programprovides

2 Proponents of the waivers also argue that manychildren dropped out of the school-lunch programas a result of 2012 changes to school meals. The number of students paying full price for schoollunch has been decreasing by an average of nearly5% annually since the 2007-2008 school year, whilethe number of students qualifying for free mealshas been increasing. Several factors may have led to an overall 3.7%decrease in student participation from the 2010-2011 school year through the 2012-2013 schoolyear, including the recession, price increases for full-price participants, students' wariness of new foods,and negative media coverage of school-lunchcontent. 3 Many school officials expect some of thesechallenges to diminish over time, as schools andstudents become accustomed to the new program -and indeed, reports of improved acceptance amongstudents are emerging. In a nationwide survey conducted in the spring of2013, 70% of school officials said they believed thatelementary-school students liked the new meals. Finally, students' taste preferences are cited as abarrier to consumption of school meals that adhereto the new