BOSTON, March 6 (UPI) — U.S. government standards that began in 2012 requiring schools to offer healthier meals led to increased child fruit and vegetable consumption, researchers say.
Lead author Juliana Cohen, research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, said the study, the first to examine school food consumption both before and after the standards went into effect, contradicted criticisms the new standards increased food waste.
“There is a push from some organizations and lawmakers to weaken the new standards,” Cohen said in a statement. “We hope the findings, which show that students are consuming more fruits and vegetables, will discourage those efforts.”
The researchers collected plate waste data among 1,030 students in four schools in an urban, low-income school district both before and after the new standards went into effect.
The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found following the implementation of the new standards in 2012, fruit selection increased by 23 percent; while entree and vegetable selection remained unchanged.
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