Changes to the National Breakfast and Lunch Program

Changes to the national breakfast and lunch program
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Changes to the national breakfast and lunch program
At present, young people in the United States are facing an obesity crisis that is greatest in the history of this country. The rates of obesity have risen by 300 percent in the past 3 decades with major implications for American kids and the American society at large (Crawford, 2011). An important thing that could be done is to offer kids in the United States access to healthful foods. The recent changes to the national breakfast and lunch program to improve nutrition and health does exactly that as school meals would provide reduced offerings of unhealthy foods and increased offering of nutritious items. This paper describes the process involved in the program as well as the benefits of the program.
Kids born in the year 2000 have a one-in-three likelihood of developing Type 2 Diabetes Miletus (T2DM) in their life and researchers have reported that 70 percent of five-to-seventeen year-olds have at least one risk factor for getting heart disease (Crawford, 2011). If the epidemic of childhood obesity in America is not reversed, the society would bear the cost and pain of high rates of osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes plus other chronic diseases related to diabetes. It is worth mentioning that these consequences can be prevented. Disease prevention is ethical and cost-effective whereas treatment is painful and expensive (Nixon, 2012).
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) that was enacted in the year 2010 seeks to provide kids in America with access to foods that are healthful. The new standards specified in HHFKA align meals provided in schools with the latest nutrition science as well as the actual world circumstances of schools in the United States. The reform actually does what is right for the health of children in a manner that is attainable in schools countrywide (Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, 2011).
Table 1: The previous and the new school meal requirements are illustrated below (Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, 2011):
Previous and New school meal requirements: BreakfastPrevious requirementNew requirementFruit½ cup daily1 cup dailyGrains and meat or meat alternate2 grains or 2 meat or meat alternates or 1 of each daily1.4 – 2 grains daily in addition to 1-2 meat or meat alternatives dailyMilk1 cup1 cup, content of fat in the milk should be not more than 1%Whole grainsSchools are encouraged to provideNo less than half of the grains should be rich in whole grainPrevious and New school meal requirements: LunchPre...