The Challenge

Teaching America’s Schoolchildren to Grow Healthy Food

Children’s Diets in the U.S.

Two-thirds of calories consumed by children in 2018 came from ultraprocessed foods such as frozen pizza, microwavable meals, cookies, and chips, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the Aug. 10, 2021, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). This represents a jump of 6% since 1999. Analyzing the diets of more than 33,000 youths ages 2 to 19 across the U.S., the researchers noted the “overall poorer nutrient profile” of the ultra-processed foods. “This is particularly worrisome for children and adolescents because they are at a critical life stage to form dietary habits that can persist into adulthood,” said Dr. Fang Fang Zhang, the study’s senior author and a nutrition and cancer epidemiologist at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and policy, in an interview with National Public Radio. “A diet high in ultra-processed foods may negatively influence children’s dietary quality and contribute to adverse health outcomes in the long term.”

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14 million children and adolescents meet the criteria for obesity

The Scope of the Problem

According to the CDC, 14 million children and adolescents – 18.5% of the total population in these age groups – meet the criteria for obesity. The prevalence of obesity is even higher among children from low-income households, with nearly 20% of kids in families earning just above the federal poverty level ($25,750 per year for a family of four) or less meeting the criteria. Experts indicate that these higher levels of obesity may be attributable to shortcomings in education relating to diet and nutrition. Although nearly 90% of U.S. schools teach some form of health and nutrition, not all require students take them. Notably, many schools don’t have the benefit of a consistent, coordinated curriculum focused on diet and nutrition and the benefits of organic food is oftentimes not covered.

Why School Gardens are Part of the Solution

According to researchers who co-authored, School Gardens in the United States: Current Barriers to Integration and Sustainability, published in the November 2018 of the National Library of Medicine, “schools are ideal settings for implementing nutrition enrichment programs because they provide continuous and intensive contact with children and adolescents during their formative years. Research demonstrates that school gardening is a promising strategy for promoting healthy physical, psychosocial, and dietary behaviors. Gardens give students an opportunity to be physically active and to build connections with other students, the school community and the environment. In addition, children involved in growing food are more willing to try and to prefer fruits and vegetables. School gardens have also been shown to improve students’ academic achievement in science, math, language arts, and writing. In addition to the direct benefits, school gardens have been shown to improve perceptions of well-being, quality of life, and social and cultural cohesion, which are important public health concerns. Federal public health initiatives, such as Healthy People 2020, emphasize the importance of strengthening programs to target these behavioral and social determinants of health. To generate these benefits, gardens must be integrated into schools. A well-integrated school garden has been defined as one that is maintained at or near a school, fosters meaningful educational experiences for students, and is valued as part of the school’s culture. Yet schools struggle to establish, implement, and sustain gardens to achieve integration or success.”