WASHINGTON--A federal program that began in 1946 to remedy the shocking malnutrition among World War II recruits is being transformed into ground zero in the nation's new war against obesity.

The national school lunch program and other food programs under the Child Nutrition Act may be the most promising avenue to improve the nutrition of a generation of children who think food comes out of a wrapper and who face shorter lives because of their rising weight.

The costs of treating the chronic illnesses stemming from obesity, already at $147 billion a year in the United States, threaten to swamp the nation's foundering health care system.

"Think of it as a down payment on a preventative health care program," said Anthony Geraci, director of food and nutrition for the Baltimore City Public Schools, who won an award for purchasing $1 million a year from local farms. "The up-front costs of feeding our kids better food are wiped out on the back end by the high cost of treating Type 2 diabetes. To me, it's a no-brainer."

This program and a several others that feed more than 31 million children a day, and half of all infants born in the nation, will be at the center of a new anti-obesity campaign that first lady Michelle Obama rolled out Tuesday following a preview by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the National Press Club.

Connecting kids, food

Once-radical innovations are starting to go mainstream, including the school gardening movement pioneered by restaurateur Alice Waters at Berkeley public schools that is intended to reconnect children with real food.

Vilsack has fielded a "Farm to School Tactical Team" of USDA advisers to carry out the once-novel idea of linking schools with local farmers. National nutrition standards are being upgraded, schools got stimulus money to help them rebuild their kitchens, and training of school food preparers is getting increased attention.

Students and teachers are using Web sites that display actual school meals to shame school cafeterias into compliance. The sites show schools attempting with varying degrees of success to add fresh vegetables and fruits to their offerings.

At Fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com, there's something called "popcorn chicken" paired with a pear, and a packaged peanut butter and jelly "graham cracker sandwich" accompanied by apple slices.

Comparing lunches

At Americanlunchroom.com, a Berkeley lunch shows a fresh chicken taco with freshly prepared pinto beans, salad and a plum, while a school lunch in Chicago offers corn chips with cheese sauce, french fries, canned pears in syrup and chocolate milk.

"I know a lot of people think school lunches are getting better, although if you ask parents and kids I doubt they would have that opinion, " said Susan Levin, director of nutrition education at of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

School chefs say it's hard to feed children a decent meal on $1, which is what many have left after overhead costs. (Source: San Francisco Chronicle)

Story Date: September 2, 2010