Will New USDA School Meal Standards Reduce Obesity?

In January 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released new nutrition standards for school meals requiring more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; low-fat milk; and less trans fat. To examine whether these changes have the potential to reduce childhood obesity, researchers used nationally representative longitudinal data from 2007 to compare weight status between 600 eighth-grade children in 10 states that had laws that exceeded USDA standards at that time (similar to the new 2012 standards) with that of 4270 children in 30 states that met the less-healthy school meal standards. To address state-level bias (e.g., states with higher rates of obesity might be more likely to implement healthier school meal standards), difference…