A 2010 federal law that boosted nutrition standards for school meals may have begun to help slow the rise in obesity among America’s children — even teenagers who can buy their own snacks, a new study showed.
The national study found a small but significant decline in the average body mass index of more than 14,000 schoolkids ages 5 to 18 whose heights and weights were tracked before and after implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
The study is new evidence that improving the quality of school meals through legislation might be one way to help shift the trajectory of childhood obesity, which has been rising for decades and now affects about 1 in 5 U.S. kids.
Read this story for free
To continue reading, sign up for our newsletters and get unlimited access to WABE.org
We won't share your information with outside organizations Why am I seeing this?
