Healthy School Environment
Why is a healthy school environment so important?
Not only is good nutrition important for students to perform well academically, it also helps students achieve full physical and mental growth, and lifelong health and well being.
Well-planned school nutrition programs positively influence children's habits. These programs are so important considering the current nutritional status of children:
- The prevalence of overweight among children aged 6 to 11 years has more than doubled in the past 20 years. It has more than tripled among adolescents aged 12 to19.
- Eighty-five percent of adolescent females do not consume enough calcium. During the last 25 years, milk consumption has decreased 36 percent among adolescent females.
- Eighty percent of high school students do not eat fruits and vegetables five or more times per day.
- Only 39 percent of children ages 2 to 17 meet the USDA’s dietary recommendation for fiber (found primarily in dried beans and peas, fruits, vegetables and whole grains).
- Less than 40 percent of children and adolescents in the United States meet the U.S. dietary guidelines for saturated fat.
Source: Healthy Youth! National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention