New federal school lunch guidelines are doing what they were designed to do: improving nutrition for school-age children and reducing childhood obesity, according to a study recently published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Under the new guidelines, the total calories of the students' lunch choices decreased 4%. Calories from fat decreased 18% and those from sodium decreased 8%. Researchers combined lunch sales data collected at the register with data on student absences to show how the nutritional content of National School Lunch Program (NSLP) entrées chosen by students varied across different socioeconomic and demographic groups and how the choices affected their health. The responses to the school lunch nutritional changes varied by socioeconomic and demographic groups. Students who received free and reduced-price lunches were more likely to choose entrées with a higher fat content and less likely to select entrées with higher sodium content. Students paying full price made opposite choices--they were more likely to choose high-salt entrees and reject those high in fat.
Source: MedicalXPress, 10/13/16, School Lunch Changes
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