U.S. school meal programs miss nutritional targets

Photo: Marcia Furman (CC)

The U.S. school lunch and breakfast programs need a serious overhaul in order to meet federally adopted dietary guidelines, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

The latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans and Dietary Reference Intakes came out in 2005 and are reviewed every five years. The school meal programs, however, have not kept pace with the guidelines. Today's programs are based on 1995 Dietary Guidelines and 1989 Recommended Dietary Allowances.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture jointly develop the science-based guidelines to promote health and reduce risk of chronic diseases through nutrition and physical activity.

Ninety-nine percent of U.S. public schools and 83 percent of private schools take part in the National School Lunch Program. In 2007, about 30.6 million schoolchildren participated daily in the lunch program which equates to 5.1 billion lunches served. About 10.1 million children took part in the breakfast program, available in 85 percent of public schools, consuming 1.7 billion breakfasts. 

"The programs that nourish so many American schoolchildren need to reflect the latest child health and nutrition science given the extent to which dietary habits shape lifelong health," said Virginia A. Stallings, MD, chair of the IOM Committee on Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools that wrote the report.

"Since the school meal programs were last updated, we've gained greater understanding of children's nutritional needs and the dietary factors that contribute to obesity, heart disease, and other chronic health problems,” said Stallings. “The changes recommended in this report are needed to assure parents that schools are providing healthful, satisfying meals."

To meet the targets, school meal programs need to limit sodium and reduce the number of calories in current meals, and raise the amount of protein, vitamins, and minerals in current meals. The recommendations also call for more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. 

Report data showed that a typical high school lunch contains around 1,600 milligrams of sodium, more than double the optimum. The report recommends that lunches for high school students should contain no more than 740 milligrams of sodium and that lower sodium standards should be gradually phasing in over a 10-year period.

Other recommendations:

Fruits:

• Increase the amount of fruit in breakfasts to 1 cup per day for all grades
• Increase the amount of fruit in lunches to 1 cup per day for students in grades 9-12 
• No more than half of fruit served should be in juice form

Vegetables:

• Increase the amount of vegetables offered to 3/4 cup per day for grades K-8 and 3/4 cup per day for grades 9-12
• Offer starchy vegetables such as potatoes less often and provide at least 1/2 cup each of green leafy vegetables, orange vegetables, and legumes per week

Grains and breads:

• Ensure that half or more of the grains and breads provided contain 50 percent or more whole grains 
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should require food manufacturers to label products with their whole-grain content to help food preparers ensure they are meeting the standards.

Milk and fats:

• Provide 1 cup of 1 percent or nonfat milk at breakfast and lunch daily to meet requirements to keep the saturated fat content of meals below 10 percent of total calories.

Meats and meat alternatives:

• Limit the amount of meat or meat alternatives in lunches to 2 ounces on most days for all grades; schools should have flexibility to provide greater amounts to students in higher grades.  

The report acknowledged that increasing the amounts of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain foods in school meals will add to the programs’ cost.  

The National School Lunch Program was signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1946.