Diversity in School Lunch Menus. Social Sciences Essay (Essay Sample)

The Need for Diversity in Lunch Menus
For decades now, health complications resulting from poor dietary conditions have caught the attention of not only researchers but also the public. It is a personal choice to decide what type of foods to consume, but in the school environment, the necessity of exercising that choice grows even bigger. For instance, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children has increased in the US (Ogden et al., 2002), with approximately 32% of children and adolescents classified as overweight or obese (Hedley et al., 2004; Ogden et al., 2008). The main concern regarding students of that age is not actually what they consume at home but rather at school. Children spend about 180 days/year in school and most receive breakfast and/or lunch from school cafeterias (Martin et al., 2010). Moreover, the role school lunches play in increasing the rate of obesity among students has also been reported (Schanzenbach, 2009). Taking that into perspective, a diversity in the school’s cafeteria menu is something to seek.