America’s kids have a weight problem, but regulations that boosted the nutritional standards for school meals may have helped slowed down weight gain among low-income students, a new study finds.
For decades, the National School Lunch Program has provided free or low-cost meals to U.S. schoolchildren. As of 2016, more than 30 million students nationwide were participating, according to government figures.
In 2010, a federal law was passed to strengthen the nutritional requirements of those school meals, aiming to increase children’s intake of fruits, vegetables, fiber-rich grains and unsweetened beverages.
The move came in response to a worrisome trend: U.S. children who participated in the meal program were, on average, gaining more weight than their peers who were not in the program….