By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Childhood obesity is on the rise, but providing free meals universally may help decrease the trend. According to Helene Law, Seattle Children’s Nurse Practitioner in the Child Wellness Clinic, based on historical and current trends, childhood obesity is projected to increase, but she believes that providing students free meals is one angle that can help improve health outcomes.
Dr. Brian Saelens, Principal Investigator at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, agrees that providing universally free school meals is one way to help reduce childhood obesity, especially among students who come from low-income families.
“Childhood obesity has been increasing over the past few decades with some evidence of deceleration, but still increasing in recent years,” says Saelens. “Providing healthy meals for students, particularly those who are food insecure, is one of the strategies that will improve children’s diet quality. In combination with other things, this could help reduce childhood, and ultimately, adult obesity.”
Anna Localio, University of Washington School of Public Health PhD Candidate, who has explored potential ways to slow down the trend of obesity in early childhood years, also believes that there is a public benefit to universally free school meals and says that programs like the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a universal free school meals policy that was authorized as part of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which allows eligible low-income schools to provide free meals to all students, is a prime example of how providing free healthy meal choices at schools can help curb childhood obesity.
“We looked at California, [and the] California public schools that were eligible for the policy,” says Localio. “We looked at the change in obesity prevalence, and we found that schools that participated in CEP were associated with a modest net reduction in obesity prevalence relative to eligible non-participating schools.”
In February 2023, Democratic State Representative Marcus Riccelli of Spokane introduced House Bill 1238, which would provide meals to all requesting students without charge. Starting the 2023-2024 school year, out of 1.1 million students in Washington, around 700,000 now qualify for free meals through different programs.
Within the state of Washington, childhood obesity trends have been seemingly low in comparison to other states like California.
“Washington, and Seattle in particular, have lower rates of childhood obesity than many other states and cities, likely in part due to economic differences as well as better investment in children’s health and well-being,” says Saelens. “Although, we do still have a long way to go toward equitable opportunities for health and well-being.”
Free school meals have seemingly been the healthiest food source that students have had thus far, as they follow nutritional guidelines. Providing universally free school meals could potentially increase participation in school meals by offering them to low-income students and families.
“We think that the policy has the potential to reduce childhood obesity or at least slow the increase in childhood obesity, that kind of trend we have been seeing over the last few decades shows that there is quite a bit of evidence showing that school meals are healthier than alternatives,” says Localio.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many families faced financial burdens that affected the meals that they were consuming. Due to financial burdens, Saelens believes that the pandemic likely did not help decrease childhood obesity but remains a firm believer that with the help of policy changes the decrease is soon to come.
Since Congress passed the law in 2010, The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act has been pivotal because it started to help improve the nutrition standards for school meals by meeting the dietary guidelines and having fruits and vegetables available for all Americans.
“There has been quite a bit of evidence showing that the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act did improve the nutritional quality of school meals, and there has been some research linking the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act to obesity reduction,” says Localio.
With acts like the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, a decrease in childhood obesity appears to be underway, but there is more work that still needs to be done.
“We likely need a combination of economic and other policy and environment changes to help decrease childhood obesity, with a particular focus on improving healthy and affordable food access for lower-income families and families of color,” says Saelens. “Like many other health issues, many of these families and communities have been excluded from economic opportunities and systems that support their well-being.”
With childhood obesity being a very complex and chronic disease, Law says that it is important to start with early intervention and treat immediately with lifestyle behavioral changes.
“Connecting patients and families with community services to help access healthy foods, such as providing free meals for younger students, is a potential way to slow down and decrease childhood obesity,” says Law.