What did this study test?
The study tested whether the HHFKA was associated with reductions in child obesity, which is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) above the ninety-fifth percentile for a child’s age and biological sex, risk over time using a long-term time tracking system for 2003–2018 among 173,013 youth in the National Survey of Children’s Health. The study leveraged data from the National Survey of Children’s Health, which is a large, periodic, nationally representative survey of non-institutionalized children ages 0–17 conducted in all states.The study had took different demographics into account including age, biological sex, race/ethnicity, and the poverty status of each household, this information was all reported by the parent or guardian of the child or derived from reports of family income.
What did the study reveal?
It was found that prior to the HHFKA’s changes to school meals and snacks, the odds of children in poverty having obesity had been increasing year after year. After the HHFKA’s implementation, the yearly trend of having obesity began decreasing. For children in poverty, the risk of obesity declined substantially each year after the act’s implementation, translating to a 47 percent reduction in obesity prevalence in 2018 from what would have been expected without the legislation. This study uses nationally representative data of 173,013 children from all states over a 15-year period suggests that the passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and implementation of its changes to school meals and snacks— currently affecting children in more than 99,000 schools across the US—was associated with significantly decreased risk of obesity for the estimated 5.9 million US children ages 10–17 in poverty.These results suggest that the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act’s science-based nutritional standards should be maintained to support healthy growth, especially among children living in poverty.
In conclusion
“The implementation of stronger nutrition standards for school meals and snacks through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of obesity for youth in poverty: a 47 percent reduction in obesity prevalence in 2018 from what would have been expected without that legislation. The original 2010 HHFKA standards should be restored, and efforts to increase participation should be strengthened, to build on the law’s progress in reducing childhood obesity in the United States.”
