Are school lunches healthy?

    A book I read called Food Fix touches on how schools provide meals for many of their students, but that is not enough as it is unhealthy in many cases. Diet impacts human health, so when there are specific nutrient inadequacies, especially during childhood, it can affect brain development and have lifelong health consequences. For example, school lunches can contribute to unhealthy meals for children because so many children rely on them for the nutrition they need, but they are loaded with sugar, salt, processed card, and industrial fats. Some companies lobby for bills that count tomato paste as a vegetable, making pizza count as a vegetable. It was surprising that there was such a bill because pizza should not compare to something nutritional and the use of " smart food" in schools, which is junk food marketed to be "reduced fats" or healthier, which are not. Healthy food should be accessible to every child, especially to poorer neighborhoods that truly depend on them.

    An article I can across focused on breakfast and how it is disproportionately prevalent among school-aged urban minority youth, which harms academic achievement by affecting cognition. On an average day, about 46% of children participating in free or reduced-price lunch also participated in the School Breakfast Program for which they were also eligible. Since there is a link between eating breakfast and academic achievement, children should eat breakfast. Research has identified the molecular and cellular processes by which dietary behavior influences neuronal activity and synaptic plasticity. The study found that availability of the School Breakfast Program (vs. no program) improved children's nutrient intakes: children were less likely to be deficient in serum levels of vitamin C, vitamin E, and folate, more likely to meet recommendations for intakes of fiber, potassium, and iron, have overall better dietary quality and consume fewer calories from fat while not consuming more overall calories (Basch, 2011).

Basch CE. Breakfast and the achievement gap among urban minority youth. J Sch Health. 2011 Oct;81(10):635-40. doi: 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00638.x. PMID: 21923876.

HYMAN, M. A. R. K. (2022). Food fix: How to save our health, our economy, our communities, and our planet--one bite at a time. LITTLE BROWN SPARK.