Nutrition in Public Schools - Term Paper Example

Nutrition in Public Schools Nutrition in Public School Proper nutrition alongside regular exercise is the most important factor influencing growth and development of children. Proper or adequate nutrition refers to the consumption of essential food nutrients that are required to support good health and sustain human life. There are seven major categories or classes of food nutrients that are essential for supporting human life. These are carbohydrates, dietary fiber, fats, minerals, vitamins, proteins, and water (Martin, & Oakley, 2008). These nutrients are further classified into two major categories of macronutrients and micronutrients. The macronutrients are those food nutrients that are required I large quantities ad include carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and water. Micronutrients, on the other hand, are only needed in smaller quantities and include vitamins and minerals (Martin, & Oakley, 2008). Children are expected to consume a variety of foods with different nutritional values in order to support their nutritional requirements. However, given their age, school-aged children face several challenges in identifying the rights types and amounts of foods to consume art any given time. This affects their eating habits and food choices, which ultimately influences their growth and development process. However, for the most part, the decisions regarding what the school age going children eat is mainly based on the food available at home, at school, and in the environment where the children spend most of their time (Martin, & Oakley, 2008). Furthermore, such decisions are also based on the influence the children get from their friends and the media such as television. In addition, some children come from poor backgrounds that do not afford to provide a balanced diet or the required nutrients for the children to develop strongly. Due to these challenges, the young children may not make the right decisions concerning what to eat at any given time. This has brought to the fore the challenges of poor nutrition among children of a school going age. The challenge posed by poor nutrition in children of a school going age affects not only their quality of life, but also their ability to get the best out of their education. In order for the students to concentrate effectively in their education, it is required that they eat three meals a day with two nutritious snacks. The focus should be on reducing the amount of sugar intake and the consumption of foods that are high in fats as these are detrimental to the health of the children if consumed in large amounts (Martin, & Oakley, 2008). On the contrary, the children should be provided with fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products such as cheese, yogurt, and milk to supplement their calcium requirements. These nutritional directions can go a long way in helping the children to avert medical challenges such as being overweight, diabetes, and weaker bones. Having a proper diet with the necessary nutritional requirements will facilitate the growth and development process for school children, ensuring that they reach their full potential as well as creating for them a firm foundation that will help them lead a healthy life in the future. Nutrition and Public School Education in the US Given the importance of adequate nutrition on children’s growth and development as well as in their education and learning process, the US government has for a long time been engaged in promoting good health for school children (Jukes, Drake, & Bundy, 2008). The federal departments of education and agriculture often work together to support various schools feeding programs that are aimed at providing high quality and nutritious foods to children in public schools. These food programs are meant to help children from low-income homes to benefit from the school environment by getting the necessary food nutrients they need to sustain their lives and improve their educational outcomes (Jukes, Drake, & Bundy, 2008). The Food and Nutrition Service is the body charged with the responsibility of overseeing the various programs that focus on improving the health and educational outcomes of school children. The organization runs several food programs such as the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Milk Program, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, and the Summer Food Service Program (Jukes, Drake, & Bundy, 2008). These programs are administered by different state agencies and are aimed at helping the children fight hunger and medical conditions such as obesity in learning institutions such as schools and childcare centres. School meal programs in the US have improved the education sector a great deal as well as making sufficient contribution towards improving the health of children by providing them with fee meals and meals offered at subsidized prices, mainly targeting children from low-income homes. These free or subsidized meals continue to play a vital role in increasing household food security, which will also go a long way in improving the health of the children as well as expanding their educational opportunities (Yon, & Johnson, 2014). The most common school meal program is the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The NSP is a federal school meal program that was initiated in 1946 by President Harry Truman. At its inception, the program was deemed as the much-needed foundation for ensuring all children in the US have access to nutritional health. The main objective of the program was to provide free meals to most of the children in the country coming from deprived homes and who may not be able to find an adequate meal in their homes (Jukes, Drake, & Bundy, 2008). In addition, the NSLP program also provides an opportunity for children from homes or households that are insecure in terms of food consumption; hence, they may be unable to access the necessary calories and nutrients that they need for proper functioning. The program was initiated as a major national security measure that would help safeguard the general wellbeing and health of the country’s children. Furthermore, the program was aimed at promoting consumption of nutritious food commodities that are readily available in the country (Jukes, Drake, & Bundy, 2008). For the time that this program has been in operation, it has been hailed as a major factor in preventing issues of malnutrition and the menace of child obesity, which is a huge challenge in the developed world. The NSLP program currently operates in more than 100000 public schools as well as some other non-profit private learning institutions and other residential care institutions (Yon, & Johnson, 2014). In 2011, the NSLP program was responsible for providing nutritious food to over 30 million school children in per day. The Challenge of Food Insecurity in Public School Children From a general point of view, the question of food insecurity is very critical to the US national security program. This is particularly essential for children in order to protect their development process and help them realize their potential in the future. Essentially, food insecurity refers to a state in which there is either or both poor food quality or inadequate amounts of food (Houston, Marzette, Ames, & Ames, 2013). Children of a school going age need sufficient calories as well as adequate quantities of nutrients that will facilitate their growth and development process. The proper growth of children has several implications on various developmental outcomes for the children. Food insecurity for children affects their success in various areas including educational outcomes, their family life, and general health outcomes. For instance, there is sufficient evidence in research linking marginal food insecurity in the country to some of the worst developmental trajectories for school going children (Houston, et al., 2013). For instance, this has impaired the development of social skills of the children affected as well as affecting their reading development. School meal programs are considered necessary in order to prevent the challenge of food insecurity from having such adverse effects on children. The rates for food insecurity in the country have been on the increase in recent years, putting children from poor or low-income households at risk. For instance, the rates of national food insecurity rose from 11.1%% in 207 to 14.6% in 2008 (Houston, et al., 2013). This was the biggest increase in the country since the 1990s. Furthermore, food insecurity increased more in families that had children. This increased from 15.8% to 21% during the same period (Houston, et al., 2013). Due to these fluctuations in the rates of food security in many households in the country, about four million children experience long periods of hunger and food insufficiency annually. This accounts for about 8% of all the children aged below eight years of age in the country. Additionally, a further 21% are at risk of suffering from adverse consequences of hunger. These statistics paint a picture of a poor future for most children from low-income areas. Nevertheless, it is the accountability of the government to create a good environment for these children to flourish and make the most out of their lives as they grow up. As such, it is necessary for the government to sustain the school feeding program in public schools so as to enable the children access a meal during the day (Houston, et al., 2013). This will help in the management of the food insecurity issue as well as enhancing the capacity of the school children to improve their health, education outcomes, and their general wellbeing. Basically, the meal programs in schools help to address the menace of food insecurity in three key ways. Firstly, the program makes available high quality and sufficient food to children who would otherwise have foregone the meals. This is crucial because it helps to ensure that the children do not go for longer periods of time. Secondly, the program helps to free up resources in the households where the children come from so that these resources can be used to benefit others (Houston, et al., 2013). Finally, the program also ensures that the children not only get the meals they need, but also ensures that they get the right nu8tirntes that they need to facilitate their growth and development process. The National School Lunch Program This is the most popular meal program in the country due to its coverage and history. It is a federally assisted feeding program that currently functions in more than 100000 schools in different parts of the country. The program targets public schools and not-for-profit private schools as well as residential care institutions for children (Gunderson & United States, 2003). The NSLP program provides low-cost or free meals that are nutritionally balanced to more than 30 million school children in a day. The program was expanded in 1998 by the US Congress to include free healthy snacks to children in enrichment and after-school educational programs that incorporate children up to the age of 18. Essentially the additional snacks program allows for schools to provide for these snacks and then reimburse later by the federal government. The NSLP program is run and administered by the Food and Nutrition Service, which is the agency of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) (Gunderson & United States, 2003). The Food and Nutrition Service manages the program at the federal level. However, at the state level, the program is managed by various state agencies that run the program in agreement with the school food authorities. The program works such that the participating schools and institution get the necessary funds or subsidies as well as food for the program from the USDA for each of the meals that they will serve. However, the schools and state agencies involved in the program must serve the foods that meet the requirements of the federal government with regard to quality, quantity, and nutritional value of the foods. The Federal government offers some guidelines concerning the nutritional requirements of the foods (Gunderson & United States, 2003). Therefore, the NSLP program must be able to meet the specific patterns and standards of nutritional content of the foods as stipulated in the prevailing Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The current meal pattern focuses more on increasing the amount of fruits, whole grains, and vegetables as part of the meals offered to learners I the schools. Furthermore, the meal patterns also have specific requirements in terms of calorie limits for each component of food that goes into the meal. These calorie limits are different for the various age groups of children and are meant to ensure that the children do not receive more or fewer amounts of calories based on their age (Gunderson & United States, 2003). In addition, the meal program also enforces other meal enhancements such as reducing the levels of intake of sodium. Nevertheless, while it is the requirement that the meals offered in schools must meet the federal requirements, the decision as to what types of foods to serve the children rests with the school authorities and other agencies involved in the program at the state and school level. The program targets children from low-income households. Therefore, the NSLP program has different categories of school children depending on various factors that set the criteria that will determine whether one qualifies for free, subsidized or full priced meals. Children from low-income families qualify for free meals from the NSLP program (Gunderson & United States, 2003). These are children from families whose income level falls at or below 130 percent of the poverty level. The second category of students is those from family backgrounds that range between 130 and 185 percent of the poverty level in terms of their family income (Gunderson & United States, 2003). This class of students qualifies for subsidized meals from the NSLP program. The subsidized foods do not cost more than forty cents. However, children from the third category can only get the meals at a full price. These children are from families whose income levels fall above the 185% poverty mark. Maintaining High Nutritional Standards in Public Schools Besides the NSLP meal program that is funded by the federal government, children also have access to other types of foods from shops and other food kiosks in or around the school. Most of these foods do not meet the high standards established by the foods provided by the NSLP. Therefore, the continual access to these competitive foods to children undermines the goals and objectives of the NSLP program. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) gave several recommendations to the US Congress with regard to ensuring that the NSLP program achieves its objectives in terms of developing the health of children in schools (Brissette, Wales, & OConnell, 2013). The IOM is the body charged with the responsibility of advising the Congress on matters touching on health and science. In its report titled Nutrition standards for foods in schools, IOM provided many recommendations that would enhance the nutritional values of the foods consumed by the students in schools. The recommendations were based on scientific studies and were meant to improve the availability, content, and consumption of food in school environments. The report mainly focused on the foods and beverages that were available to students in competition with the food provided through the national mean program. In the report, the Institute concluded that the federal program NSLP should be the main source food for students in schools. This is due to the rich nutritional content of the food provided by the government in comparison to the competitive foods. Furthermore, IOM also recommended that the authorities should work on ensuring that there are limited opportunities for competitive foods. This will be one way of preventing children from buying and consume the competitive foods as most of them do not have the required nutritional values (Brissette, Wales, & OConnell, 2013). In situations where the competitive foods are available, the IOM recommends that such foods must primarily consist of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, low fat of fat-free milk, and other milk products. The IOM provided several reasons for their recommendations. Firstly, it is important to recognize the fact that most of the school going children in the country consume most of their food in schools. This has opened up a business opportunity for business people to provide competitive foods to children. For the most part, these competitive foods, which come from sources such as school stores, à la carte, and vending machines often, provide sweet foods rich in fats and high calories in order to attract the children. However, such foods are usually unhealthy and pose a threat to the government’s efforts to improving the health of children through a national feeding program. In addition, the challenge of obesity is a major reality in the US today, especially among school children. As such, there is a need to respond adequately in order tom protect the children from suffering from such preventable health complications (Brissette, Wales, & OConnell, 2013). The foods provided by the competitive sources are weak in this respect because they lack the nutritional value to promote a healthy life for the children, as such, it is very critical to keep the children of the foods that come with high calories, fats, sodium, and sugar. The IOM also recognizes that he school environment, where students spend most of their time during ted y, can be very influential in terms of the decisions they make in life, especially as concerns the issues of dietary choices. When students face challenges in the school environment with regards to the types of foods they ought to consume, the same problem can be transferred to other environments such as their homes where they may find it difficult to eat a balanced meal. Therefore, in order to reduce tis problem, it is important to let the children have only the recommended foods within their school environment. This way, they will be able to know the rights types of food to consume. Conclusion Nutrition in public schools in the US is an issue of great significance, often incorporating both the state and federal governments in ensuring that school children get a healthy meal. Adequate nutrition is the consumption of essential food nutrients that are required to support good health and sustain human life. The basic nutrients that are needed to support a healthy lifestyle for children as well as adults include carbohydrates, dietary fiber, fats, minerals, vitamins, proteins, and water. Children need these nutrients in different values as compared to the adults. One way that the government has been using to fight the challenge of food insecurity as well as promoting good nutrition in public schools is through national meal programs such as the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) which has been implemented since 1946. The program has been successful over the years in terms of ensuring the children have access to healthy meals at lunch time as well as healthy snacks at the expense of the government. References Brissette, I., Wales, K., & OConnell, M. (2013). Evaluating the wellness school assessment tool for use in public health practice to improve school nutrition and physical education policies in New York. Journal of School Health, 83(11), 757-762. Gunderson, G. W., & United States. (2003). The national school lunch program: Background and development. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Houston, J. E., Marzette, A. A., Ames, G. W., & Ames, A. J. (2013). Food Insecurity, the National School Lunch Program and Educational Achievement: Evidence from Georgias Public Schools. Journal of Food Distribution Research, 44(1), 33-41. Jukes, M. C. H., Drake, L. J., & Bundy, D. A. P. (2008). School health, nutrition and education for all: Levelling the playing field. Wallingford, UK: CABI Pub. Martin, J., & Oakley, C. (2008). Managing child nutrition programs: Leadership for excellence. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Yon, B. A., & Johnson, R. K. (2014). elementary and middle school childrens acceptance of lower calorie flavoured milk as measured by milk shipment and participation in the National School Lunch Program. Journal of School Health, 84(3), 205-211. Read More