Column: Why expand school free food programs?
High school kids are complaining about food? So what's new?
What's new is that some high schoolers are giving thumbs-down reviews to Michelle Obama's childhood obesity initiative to cut down on calories in school lunches. One group of students in Kansas were so, uh, famished, they created a four-minute video that was posted on YouTube called "We Are Hungry." They say 850 calories are not enough.
The lunch calorie limit is a response to decades of federal reports condemning the federal school lunch program for its high fat and poor nutrient content. A 2010 University of Michigan study found that students who regularly eat school lunches are 29% more likely to be overweight, and that consumption of school lunches was the single strongest predictor of childhood obesity.
Unfortunately, at the same time brakes are being tapped on caloric intake at lunch, the Obama administration is championing a vast expansion of the school breakfast program. At the same time some kids are getting smaller lunches, others are having multiple breakfasts.
Free for all
Twelve million kids currently eat school breakfasts, but that number will soar. Under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, all schools with 40% low-income students will be allowed to offer free breakfasts and lunch to all students. That will lead to expanding waistlines. New York City recently suspended expansion of its Breakfast in the Classrooms after discovering that 20% of pupils were eating two breakfasts -- one at home and another at school. An Agriculture Department (USDA) pilot program produced similar findings.
The profusion of free breakfasts could contribute to a far more pervasive health threat. A study published in May in Pediatrics found that the rate of diabetes and pre-diabetes has more than doubled among American teenagers since 1999.
It's the kids who pay
So why push handouts for all pupils? Advocates claim that giving free meals to all kids would eliminate the stigma that might occur if only low-income kids eat breakfast at school. However, the USDA found that stigma had little to do with deterring kids from accepting free breakfasts.
Federally funded lobbies have long portrayed universal free breakfasts as a panacea. But, a 2006 Journal of the American Dietetic Association study concluded that "making universal-free school breakfast available" failed to change "students' dietary outcomes" or reduce the number of kids who skipped breakfast. Similarly, a 2006 Journal of Child Nutrition and Management study and a recent University of North Carolina study concluded that providing universal free breakfasts failed to improve academic performance.
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The USDA recently announced new nutritional guidelines for school breakfasts, but Homer Simpson still appears to be the program's patron saint. The breakfast menu for Magnolia ISD High Schools in Texas includes glazed doughnuts. The Galaxy Middle School in Deltona, Fla., offers chocolate and strawberry milk and "4 French Toast Sticks." In Orland, Calif., cinnamon buns are popular.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts one-third of kids will become diabetic if trends continue. It is a federal crime for food manufacturers to sell products without nutritional labeling. But the USDA does not require schools to disclose to parents how much sugar is being given to their kids.
Unfortunately, politicians can profit short term from passing out free food, but our children may one day recognize that those free lunches and breakfasts were far more expensive than they appeared.
James Bovard is the author of Attention Deficit Democracy.