Posted on 11/08/2014 3:05:27 AM PST by Bettyprob
Many parents prefer to send their children off to school with a packed lunch, believing that the food they have given them is far healthier than school lunches. But a new study, published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, claims this may not be the case.
The research team, led by Alisha R. Farris of the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Exercise at Virginia Tech, found that school lunches had better average nutritional quality than packed lunches.
"We found that both packed and school lunches almost entirely met nutrition standards, except school lunches were below energy and iron recommendations, whereas packed lunches exceeded fat and saturated fat recommendations," says Farris.
The quality of school lunches has been a major focus in recent years. In 2012, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) updated the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) guidelines, setting out a number of recommendations with the aim of offering healthier food choices to children at school.
As part of the guidelines, the USDA recommend that schools should ensure students are offered fruits and vegetables every day, are offered fat-free or low-fat milk varieties, given a choice of whole-grain rich foods and are served the correct food portion size, based on their age.
It seems these recommendations have proved successful so far. In March, Medical News Today reported on a study from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA, claiming that the guidelines have increased consumption of fruits and vegetables among low-income students.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalnewstoday.com ...
TS. My kid my choice. period.
When are these government morons going to learn (or admit) that fat in our diets is good for us.
These controlling nitwits are still living in the 90’s.
Maybe we can appoint a “lunch czar” to help guide and direct all those incompetent parents who are sending their kids to school with sub-standard lunches! What about Michelle Obama? He’s not doing anything!
Many parents prefer to send their children off to school with a packed lunch, believing that the food they have given them is far healthier than school lunches
Without a doubt it is healthier. Why? Because instead of ending up min the garbage the kid actually eats it. A child can not be in school all day learning without eating. Not to mention that when they get home they will be so hungry that they will attack a bunch of junk food immediately
There are two realities here. One....that the packed lunch probably isn’t as good as some nutritional expert might cook at some school...if you gave them enough funding to cook such a meal. The second reality is that you could prepare forty different nutritional meals, with massive federal funding, and almost all of them be turned down by kids to eat. So the kid pulls out a Snickers bar and gets through the day at school and eats a big dinner at home.
The gimmick here....to waste federal funding as much as possible, and pretend it’s the right thing to do.
exceeded fat and saturated fat recommendations
As every health diet will.
The fat and saturated fat recommendations aren't just impossible to abide by, they are actively dangerous.
Sometimes I think it’s all just a big collectivist plot. Implement silly lunch dietary requirements, instigate a national debate about this and that, and then fill you childrens’ minds with the real food they want them to eat - socialism.
They need to check their definitions. Two thirds of school lunch vegies are thrown away, along with almost half of fruits. Increased serving of those foods does not imply increased consumption. It looks like the study, which claims no increase in "food waste", intentionally didn't look at which foods were wasted.
Bottom line: Virginia Tech is trying to get a big federal grant. This is just part of its lobbying.
Food uneaten in the trash can has infinitely less nutritional value than a bag of chips.
Probably. But a highly nutritious school lunch that doesn't get eaten has no nutritional value at all.
Why on earth would any sane person not believe that this “study” reinforces the prejudices of leftists?
A hell of a lot of “science” does these days.
This school will take good care of your kids when they grow up. A nutcase killed 32 people and wounded 17 others in two separate attacks on their gun free campus.
Yes they know what is best for our kids.
the packed lunch actually eaten has more nutrients than the school lunch that is thrown away uneaten.
Exactly. If the government can force what one eats, they can force anything.
Bingo. Low-fat, esp. for kids, is a bad idea. The human brain is 60% fat. Rob a child of fat during his/her development and you rob them of proper brain development. Come to think of it, perhaps that's the government's plan.
A couple of PBJ sandwiches, an apple with a carton of whole milk seemed provide children with enough nutrition to make it though the day ...
I sometimes wonder what the first wookie got for school lunch... she seems to have not suffered for any lack of nutrition...at all...
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