For 31 million schoolchildren, the U.S. needs a solution for dealing with the unhealthy facts listed below.

• According to The Center for Disease Control, children born in the year 2000, one-third will contract diabetes. And, these children will be the first in our country’s history to die at a younger age than their parents.
• 70.1 percent of Americans are overweight; 4.3 million children ages 10 – 14 will become overweight or obese in the next 24 months.
• Rates of childhood obesity are soaring. About 12 percent of children ages 2 to 5 are obese compared with 17 percent of kids 6 to 11, and 18 percent of kids ages 12 to 19.^{i ii}
• “The number one thing any school can do to improve their school food is to add a healthy salad bar and allow children to make their own choices.” – Chef Ann Cooper, AKA The Renegade Lunch Lady and cofounder of The Lunch Box Project and Food, Family, Farming Foundation (F3)

Information provided by:

The Lunchbox: Healthy Tools to Help All Schools