School lunches could lose nutritional value

Summer break is approaching, but we

can’t lose sight of what is happening in our public schools. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue recently rolled back crucial school lunch nutrition standards. Perdue tried to justify the rollbacks by citing complaints about an unpalatable whole-grain biscuit, which is like saying we should permit smoking indoors again because some were cold outside.

The rollbacks are perplexing for two reasons. First, research by the American Heart Association highlighted that a deficit of whole grains and an excess of salt are two of the largest contributors to premature cardiovascular death. Yet the rollbacks allow schools to ask for an exemption from the whole grain requirements and delay the sodium mandate. Why would we fund known cardiovascular disease-promoting foods? Second, we know an unhealthy diet is a major contributor to the obesity/diabetes epidemic. Physical activity, though important, is outweighed by diet when it comes to fighting obesity. Yet physical activity has been used by big food, big soda and now Perdue as a red herring. His message about exercise promotion mirrors the debunked propaganda big soda promoted.

Perdue positioned the rollbacks as “deregulation” to offer more freedom and flexibility to schools. But, seeing that most schools don’t have much of a problem with these standards that research continues to validate, it appears Perdue’s actions are merely big food putting its thumb on the scale — again.

It’s critical we stay vigilant and focus on promoting healthy eating habits, particularly when school meal standards are under attack. Sometimes school lunch is the closest thing to a balanced meal — or any meal for that matter — that some children eat each day. If we want to reverse the “diabesity” epidemic in this country, we need to start with our youngest. We owe it to them to support what we know is best.