Why is cafeteria food unhealthy

Cooper and others are tackling the problem head on, bringing awareness to the issue of unhealthy school lunches. The possible consequences of childhood obesity can range from physical complications such as diabetes and high blood pressure, to social problems like low self-esteem and depression. But there are many obstacles to improving unhealthy school lunches, not the least of which is money.

Additionally, schools are mandated to use part of that money for milk purchases. Another obstacle to addressing the problem is that some schools have given contracts to food management companies. Young people also place great importance on social time within the school day. And many teenagers describe the school dining hall as an intimidating place with poor food choices and teachers roaming — making it somewhere they would rather avoid.

Researchers from the Jamie Oliver Foundation were alarmed to find many schools are still serving high fat and sugary foods at break and lunch — including pasties, pizza, doughnuts, muffins and cookies, often in large portion sizes. A lack of continuity between successive governments and poor consistency in the evaluation of school food standards may also be to blame.

Research shows that eating habits people pick up in their youth tend to track into adulthood , which makes the teenage years an important stage to start forming healthy habits. So rather than placing the full responsibility of food choice onto teens, more needs to be done to enable young people to make healthier choices. This can include consulting with pupils to engage them in making decisions about the dining room environment and better food education.

Reducing choices and streamlining menus has also been shown to improve healthier food choices. Meal planning for schools is a very complicated process because menus need to cater to a wide range of tastes and restrictions, like peanut allergies.

Schools also have a limited budget when it comes to feeding students. So, that all means that school food needs to be lower cost and not require much preparation, which means foods are often higher in sugar, fat and salt. There are more than 55 million children and teens who attend public schools in the U. These programs support more than 31 million lunches and 11 million breakfasts per day for students in the U. For children who suffer from food insecurity, this may be their biggest and most important meal of the day.

Food insecurity is the state of being without reliable access to sufficient quantities of nutritious and affordable food. Nearly 1 in 8 Americans suffer from food insecurity, which includes at least 12 million children.

As for the school meals, they are tied to guidelines for healthy eating. The guidelines try to include more fruits, veggies and grains, while aiming for more balanced menus. They also try to reduce the overall fat content by serving more vegetable options and less beef, pork and fried foods. Children who eat meals at school have better nutrition than those that eat other meals. Are there guidelines for vending machine drinks?

This is in part because teenagers in the UK consume poor quality diets, low in nutrients and high in processed foods. Indeed, girls in England do not get essential nutrients required for reproductive and overall good health vitamin A, folate, iron.

And young people are also generally low in at least five micronutrients needed for development, immunity, mood and energy levels. Teenagers in the UK also consume the highest amount of added sugars and sugary drinks compared to all other age groups. Teenagers also consume the highest amount of breakfast cereal products that are also known to be filled with sugar , and confectionery. And only 4 per cent of UK teens meet daily fibre recommendations. This is concerning given that dietary fibre is associated with a decreased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

Young people are also only eating around two and half portions of their recommended five a day of fruit and vegetables. Research also shows that teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds have lower micronutrient and fibre intake than their more well-off peers.