Better Diet Quality in the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act and WIC Package Reduced Childhood Obesity

Effects of the HHFKA Changes in School Meals

The HHFKA was passed by Congress in 2010, and its implementation was required in schools by 2012. In the Act, Congress set age-appropriate caloric ranges, required that at least 51% of grains be whole grains, required students to take at least one-half cup serving of fruits or vegetables with every school breakfast or lunch, and required that schools offer 1 cup of flavored or unflavored fat-free milk or 1% milk. Despite concerns, the changes were not associated with an increase in plate waste.¹ In several studies, researchers have confirmed an increase in the quality of school meals and in improved consumption. For example, dietary quality was assessed before and after implementation of the new HHFKA standards by using the Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI 2010) and food consumption data from the nationally representative NHANES.² The HEI 2010 score reflected the degree to which dietary intake was consistent with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The HEI 2010 scores among students aged 5 to 18 years were stratified by low-income, low-middle–income, and middle-high–income students and compared to those among non–school lunch participants in the same income categories. The HEI 2010 scores increased from 42.7 to 54.6 among school lunch participants compared to a decrease from 34.8 to 34.1 among nonparticipants. The differences in comparison with non–school lunch participants were 12.6, …