A new report on Wednesday underscored the need for more fruits and vegetables in the diets of children in the U.S.
The Institute of Medicine focused on school food programs to show that many students are consuming too many solid fats and sugars rather than getting the necessary amount of key nutrients from fruits and vegetables.
Their review focused on breakfast and lunch programs at U.S. schools. The report found children aged 5-18 ate 50 percent or less of the vegetables recommended by the U.S. government’s dietary guidelines, and fruit intake was 50 percent or less than the suggested amount for kids 9-18 years old.
The report also showed that children consume high amounts of sodium and solid fats from fast food items.
“Most Americans, not just children, are not eating as balanced a diet as we want,” said Virginia Stallings, a professor at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and chair of the committee that conducted the review.
“There are so few times where we have an opportunity to touch every child’s life,” she said.
These programs are overseen by the U.S. Agriculture Department and are slated for reauthorization by Congress in 2009.
Tom Vilsack, who was nominated for Secretary of Agriculture by President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday, said the USDA “must place nutrition at the center of all food assistance programs administered by the department.”
Officials at the USDA are updating the nutrition and meal requirements used for school breakfast and lunch programs, and looked for recommendations from the Institute of Medicine.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 13.9 percent of children aged 2 to 5, 18.8 percent of those aged 6 to 11, and more than 17 percent of those 12 to 19 are overweight.
“School meals are absolutely essential not just to reduce hunger, but to kids’ health,” said Jim Weill of the Food Research and Action center. “Obesity has helped focus attention that school meals should be better.”
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