Snack Food Calories Restricted
Jessica Donze Black, director of the Kids' Safe and Healthful Foods Project, speaks with Education Week about new rules to restrict calories in snack foods and beverages sold in schools.
More info"Adolescents in states with strict laws regulating the sale of snacks and sugary drinks in public schools gained less weight over a three-year period than those living in states with no such laws, a new study has found.
The study, published Monday in Pediatrics, found a strong association between healthier weight and tough state laws regulating food in vending machines, snack bars and other venues that were not part of the regular school meal programs. Such snacks and drinks are known as competitive foods, because they compete with school breakfasts and lunches.
The conclusions are likely to further stoke the debate over what will help reduce obesity rates, which have been rising drastically in the United States since the 1980s. So far, very little has proved effective and rates have remained stubbornly high. About a fifth of American children are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
- Date added:
- Aug 13, 2012
- Project:
- Kids' Safe and Healthful Foods Project
- Topic:
- School Food
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Jessica Donze Black, director of the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project, speaks to the Washington Post about the USDA's decision to finalize interim rules for snack foods and beverages sold in schools.
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''While some students look down on food served in school cafeterias, Zoe Deakyne, a sixth-grader at Long Beach Island Elementary School, enjoys getting her lunch there.''
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