Missouri Aims to Improve School Nutrition and Reduce Childhood ...

Tag : Problems Pre Canned Fruits Vegetables
Jefferson City, MO - infoZine - A statewide health organization is asking for public input onnewly revised guidelines to help schools provide healthier foods tostudents in Missouri. The goal of the guidelines is to improvestudent health and prevent childhood obesity.

The Missouri Eat Smart Guidelines are voluntary nutritionguidelines for all food available on school campuses for studentsin pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The guidelines were developedby the Missouri Council for Activity and Nutrition (MoCAN), a groupthat includes the Missouri Department of Health and SeniorServices, the University of Missouri Extension and otherorganizations involved in health-related issues.

"The food students eat at school has a big impact on their overallhealth," said Barbara Keen, MoCAN member and registered dietitianat the state health department. "By helping schools improvenutrition, we can help prevent children from becoming overweight.Children who are overweight have a greater risk of developinghealth problems now and later in life."

MoCAN's first set of school nutrition guidelines, published in2005, outlined three levels of nutrition standards for schools:minimum, intermediate and advanced. The revised guidelines add afourth category, the exemplary level, as a higher standard forschool nutrition.

The minimum level complies with the minimum requirements set forfederal child nutrition programs as well as state policy. Thestandards for each subsequent level call for healthier foods. Forexample, the intermediate level requires fresh, canned, dried orfrozen fruits and vegetables to be served at least three days aweek, while the exemplary level requires fresh fruits andvegetables to be served daily.

Each nutrition level recognizes that differences exist in theresources available to school districts for their nutritionprograms and offers recommendations for steps schools can take tocontinue progress in improving school nutrition.

"When the first set of guidelines were published, a number ofschools in Missouri were interested in more advanced andchallenging guidelines," Keen said. "By including a higher level inthe revised guidelines, we are setting a standard for schools thatwant to further improve the nutrition of the food they offer theirstudents."

Nutrition guidelines are part of a school's local wellness policy.Federal law requires school districts to establish wellnesscommittees to address nutrition guidelines, physical activity,nutrition education and other school-based activities thatcontribute to the health of students. MoCAN offers its nutritionguidelines to public and non-public schools as a service to helpschools implement their local wellness policies.

MoCAN will review the public comments on the revised nutritionguidelines in August and plans to release final recommendations inSeptember.

The school local wellness policy is part of the Child Nutrition andWIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, Section 204. The act requiredschools to have wellness programs in place by July 2006.

The public can review the revised guidelines at: ( PDF ) Comments can be submitted by clicking on the specified link inthe document. Public comment will be accepted from July 7 throughAugust 8.