Nutritional concerns are rising faster than ever before. With the increase of processed and packaged foods, Americans are, on average, consuming over 75% of their daily sodium intake from these foods alone. This is resulting in an excess of sodium consumption across the entire American population. Excess sodium consumption can become concerning as it is linked to increased blood pressure. High blood pressure can, in turn, cause stroke and other heart diseases. Sodium reduction is necessary and needs to be addressed by the food service industry and policy change with revised guidelines.
The webinar consists of a variety of speakers who share their health projects with sodium reduction efforts. One of the projects the webinar focused on was the Child Nutrition Program with the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. This program was reauthorized though the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010. The breakfast and lunch programs were being revamped as a response to the increasing epidemic of overweight and obese children in the country. Nutrition guideline recommendations were taken from the National Academy of Medicine. In 2012-2014, fruit was offered daily and various vegetables were offered throughout the week. A year later, they replaced all grains with whole grains for both breakfast and lunch. In addition, sodium levels were targeted for reduction. Over time, sodium in products was slowly being reduced so that the children could adapt to the change in flavor. When children were challenged to make tastier meals without sodium, they got creative with various herbs and spices. Flavor can come from more than just salt; other spices can play a role in food taste, too, and this was a great way to get the kids involved in a fun activity.
These kinds of improvements in school lunch are a huge stepping stone to establish healthy eating habits for children early in life. If approximately a third to half of the child’s food source is coming from the school breakfast and/or lunch program, then a program like this has the ability to make a tremendous impact for future health. School-based interventions have the ability to influence a majority of kids to make healthier choices when they have healthier options presented to them.
In conclusion, children are a vulnerable population. Addressing and preventing childhood obesity early on will not only help their heath now, but also in the long run with heavily reduced risks of high blood pressure and heart disease.
I fully support this notion of changing what food is offered to kids in school. However, a major barrier to this would be funding. How would the government come up with extra money for this? This would cut into other important expenses to provide this healthier food. Perhaps we could come up with a way to obtain cheaper, healthier food.
Another aspect to look at is education. I believe pairing education while providing healthier options will go a long way in assisting to decrease the overweight/obesity epidemic we are currently seeing. We can provide all the healthy food we want, but if a child grew up only eating unhealthy food and does not fully understand the consequences of doing this, then he or she will be less inclined to change.
I agree with the sodium chosen to be reduced because it is harmful and a vast majority of Americans ingest too much. Other major compounds we overindulge on are sugars and fats and these need to be considered as well. Finally, correcting this bad habit at a young age does have great, positive implications as that person grows old.