Introduction
Numerous significant public health issues concern people and governments and need to be properly and effectively addressed in the nearest future. One such problem is childhood obesity and overweight. The statistics show that the rates are growing, and each year, more kids become obese, which undermines their current health and increases the likelihood of developing severe disorders in the future (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2017). In addition to the fault of numerous parents, who instill in their children unhealthy eating habits, there are several other causes of obesity in kids. They include increased access to fast food and reduced promotion of nutritious meals, especially in schools where children spend almost every day during twelve years developing many habits, namely eating behavior.
On December 13, 2010, President Barak Obama signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act to regulate school meal programs and provide children with better and more nutritious food (Cohen & Schwartz, 2020). Since the act appeared to be rather thought-through and successful, there is a necessity of analysing the reasons that have probably led to its effectiveness. This research will help find a working solution to the issue of child obesity by learning the Act’s advantages and disadvantages so that an improved plan of action may be created.
Research Questions
This research proposal aims at answering several significant questions, which is expected to help develop an even more effective policy against overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. First, the main question is the following: To what extent did the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 affect child obesity, and what were the primary factors contributing to its success and efficiency? Further, what made the government become so interested in addressing this issue? What were the key strategies and methods used by the main actors involved in the Act’s implementation? Were there any factors that in one way or another reduced the effectiveness of the policy? Finally, what should be improved in subsequent attempts to solve this severe problem more efficiently?
Literature Review
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is an example of both an increased involvement and interest of the government in public health problems and the possibility of developing and implementing a thought-through and practical policy (Cohen & Schwartz, 2020). The success of the Act and those factors that have contributed to it are discussed in a vast number of research papers. It is crucial to mention that several studies have criticized this policy and considered it rather unhelpful. There is debate regarding whether the Act actually promoted health and good eating behavior or simply took away from schoolers the right to choose freely and the opportunity to enjoy the food they wanted. Nevertheless, this paper will focus mainly on the literature that lists its positive aspects.
Factors that Promoted the Act’s Success
To begin with, it is possible to say that this initiative has led to the public health goal becoming a national law. According to Schwartz and Wootan (2019), the Act “resulted in improvements to school foods and beverages across the country” (p. 67). Therefore, the researchers focus their study on finding out “key lessons to help inform other nutrition and public health policy initiatives, as well as continued implementation and defense of school nutrition” (Schwartz & Wootan, 2019, p. 67). The authors managed to identify several factors that played a significant role in the Act’s and its developers’ success.
First of all, the advocates of the Hunger-Free Kids Act emphasized the feasibility of and necessity for school food policies’ updates by identifying new research on school meals and sharing it with Congress, reporters, and Administration (Schwartz & Wootan, 2019). This allowed them to increase their awareness of the situation’s seriousness. Further, “advocates worked with prominent and reputable researchers to highlight studies that were needed to support their policy goals,” as well as conducted several polls (Schwartz & Wootan, 2019, p. 73). According to their results, the public was ready to and supported the initiative of removing unhealthy food and soda from schools.
Further, the advocates used various materials like fact sheets, quizzes, infographics, and videos to make it more understandable for ordinary people and rebut their concerns. Finally, funders played an essential role by providing tactical assistance and financial support (Schwartz & Wootan, 2019). According to the authors, precisely these steps and factors made an outstanding contribution to public and administration involvement and the success of the Hunger-Free Kids Act.
Influence on Obesity
Further, it is evident that since the Act was aimed at affecting children’s eating habits, various researchers investigated the policy’s influence on overweight and obesity rates. According to Kenney et al. (2020), who used “an interrupted time series design for 2003–18 among 173,013 youth in the National Survey of Children’s Health,” there is “no significant association between the legislation and childhood obesity trends overall” (p. 1122). However, one of this policy’s objectives is to increase access to healthy and nutritious food for low-income kids (Let’s Move, 2012). As a result, it makes a difference for children who live in poor families, and the risk of being overweight and obesity for them reduced significantly every year after the implementation of the Hunger-Free Kids Act (Kenney et al., 2020). Therefore, the researchers believe that if not for the policy, “obesity prevalence would have been 47 percent higher in 2018” (Kenney et al., 2020, p. 1122). Consequently, the implementation of the Act has a positive effect on reducing the likelihood of obesity development, and it is of vital importance to make sure that such policies continue being implemented worldwide (Vilsack, 2015).
Further, it is possible to make the same conclusion when analyzing overweight and obesity statistics. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (2017) provides access to trends in obesity among children and adolescents from 2010 to 2014. According to the graphic, there is indeed no surprisingly strong effect of the Hunger-Free Kids Act. Still, at the same time, it is also evident that the prevalence stopped increasing as fast as it used to before (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2017). Therefore, the rates would be higher if not for the implementation of this policy. Additionally, Prokop and Galon (2011) believe that nurses should take this Act as an opportunity to promote healthy eating and lifestyle among kids and adolescents, which also increases the chances of this policy reducing obesity.
Furthermore, an attempt to determine the correlation between the development and introduction of the Hunger-Free Kids Act and overweight trends was made in 2015. After using the energy imbalance theory (EIT) created by James Hill, Holly Wyatt, and John Peters, Grills (2015) managed to conclude that there was no connection between the Act and the obesity reduction. However, the researcher mentioned that the results were probably like that due to the necessity of more time passing after implementing the policy (Grills, 2015). Grills (2015) indicated his hope for the appearance of the correlation after several years, which was later determined by other researchers as mentioned above. Overall, this research is likely to contribute to the already available information about the effects of the Hunger-Free Kids Act on obesity and overweight rates by comparing more detailed data and statistics from about 2000 to 2021.
Effects on the Nutritional Quality of Meals Selected by Schoolers
Numerous scholars evaluated the impact of the Act on the meals selected by children and adolescents, as well as their overall meal participation. First, there was a “significant improvement in the nutritional quality of foods chosen by students” (Johnson et al., 2016, p. 1). Further, Mozer et al. (2019) notice that the quality and energy of meals were improved greatly, which positively influenced schoolers’ food selection. Finally, Vaudrin et al. (2018) believe that “the HHFKA did not have a negative impact on school meal participation over time,” meaning that students did not decide to refuse healthy food at school.
Possible Weaknesses and Disadvantages
Studying and analyzing the available literature about the negative factors of the Hunger-Free Kids Act may allow this research to make an outstanding contribution to the field by proposing how to avoid them when developing future policies. To begin with, it is hard to disagree that probably the main weakness of the Act is that it was not initially prevented from being changed for the worse. President Trump and his administration decided to introduce some modifications to the policy, and their actions appeared to reduce its control over schoolers’ meals (Dyer, 2020a). Most researchers believe that the President’s actions undermined the power and effectiveness of the Act, as well as its previous and future success (Dyer, 2020b).
For instance, some schools were allowed to serve fewer whole grains and stop cutting more salt from children’s meals. The purpose was to provide schoolers with more freedom and an opportunity to enjoy their food, but many people believe that this was an adverse choice (Fadulu, 2020). As a result, the positive effects of the Hunger-Free Kids Act became less significant as well. Another negative factor of the Act is discussed by Gundersen (2014). The researcher believes that “schools are faced with higher expenses due to these requirements” (para. 5). Furthermore, there is a possibility that some children who are obsessed with fast food start rejecting eating healthily at school, which may result in more dangerous consequences than eating processed meals can have (Gundersen, 2014). These and some other factors and weaknesses should be taken into consideration when creating future public health policies.
Methods and Data
To answer the questions listed above, it is essential to adopt a specific approach that is likely to be helpful for this research. Therefore, the chosen approach is the qualitative one. It is a valid choice for searching for the answers to the questions, as it will allow gathering various information, analyzing it, and gaining a complex and rich understanding of the topic under study. Additionally, this approach will be useful for providing recommendations for future research or the development of public health policies. Overall, all sub-questions will be divided into groups depending on their similarities. Answering each of them will allow one to understand the whole picture, thus receiving an answer to the main question. What is more, a quantitative approach will be used when finding out whether there is a correlation between obesity reduction and the implementation of the Hunger-Free Kids Act. Since it is essential to know and compare the statistics before drawing a conclusion, this approach will be useful.
As for the data sources that will be used in the research, they will be scholarly papers and peer-reviewed articles, as well as government and probably educational websites with the necessary data and statistics. Precisely these sources are typically biased-free, credible, relevant, and trustworthy. They have all the necessary information explained in detail and proved by citations, figures, tables, and other evidence. Furthermore, they also usually have their own lists of references, which will allow using them for the research as well. In order to find the appropriate and relevant sources, it will be needed to search online databases, use keywords, and access online libraries.
The limitations of the approaches adopted in the research include the possible lack of data and the inability to draw detailed conclusions. Further, it will be impossible to verify the results of qualitative research or investigate causality, and the quantitative method may cause some difficulty in data search and analysis. As for the ethical issues to consider, the main ones are the possibility of incorrect data analysis, conflict of interest, and plagiarism. Though all articles and other sources used for the research will be cited, it may still be challenging to avoid unintentionally plagiarising other researchers’ studies. Therefore, the risks of adopting the chosen approaches are connected with their limitations and ethical issues. In case the approach goes wrong during the research, the efforts will be aimed at either adopting another method or trying to draw conclusions with the information that was gathered.
Conclusion
To draw a conclusion, one may say that the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is actually an incredible and impressive example of a policy that can influence the situation it is aimed at and change it for the better. Researchers should study its factors, advantages, and weaknesses, while politicians should pay increased attention to the Act and make sure that its strong sides are considered when developing and implementing subsequent projects and policies. Therefore, this research is needed to list all primary contributing factors of the Hunger-Free Kids Act, determine the advocates and tools required for future public health initiatives to be effective, make sure that possible obstacles are determined, and finally address obesity and overweight in a more efficient way.
References
Cohen, J., & Schwartz, M. B. (2020). Documented success and future potential of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 120(3), 359-362. Web.
Dyer, O. (2020a). Trump administration moves to lower nutrition standards in schools. The BMJ, 368. Web.
Dyer, O. (2020b). Trump administration writes dozens of “midnight regulations” undermining health and environmental protections. The BMJ, 371. Web.
Fadulu, L. (2020). Trump targets Michelle Obama’s school nutrition guidelines on her birthday. The New York Times. Web.
Grills, D. (2015). The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and high school obesity (Publication No. 1381) [Doctoral dissertation, Walden University]. Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies.
Gundersen, C. (2014). The potentially negative consequences associated with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Policy Matters. Web.
Johnson D. B., Podrabsky, M., Rocha, A., & Otten, J. J. (2016). Effect of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on the nutritional quality of meals selected by students and school lunch participation rates. JAMA Pediatrics, 170(1), 1-6.
Kenney, E. L., Barrett, J. L., Bleich, S. N., Ward, Z. J., Cradock, A. L., & Gortmaker, S. L. (2020). Impact of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on obesity trends. Health Affairs, 39(7), 1122-1129. Web.
Let’s Move (2012). Child nutrition reauthorisation: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 [PDF document].
Mozer, L., Johnson, D. B., Podrabsky, M., & Rocha, A. (2019). School Lunch entrées before and after implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 119(3), 490-499. Web.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (2017). Overweight & obesity statistics. NIDDK. Web.
Prokop, J. L., & Galon, P. (2011). Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010: An opportunity for school nurses to make a difference. The Journal of School Nursing, 27(6), 401–403. Web.
Schwartz, C., & Wootan, M. G. (2019). How a public health goal became a national law. Nutrition Today, 54(2), 67-77.
Vaudrin, N., Lloyd, K., Yedidia, M. J., Todd, M., & Ohri-Vachaspati, P. (2018). Impact of the 2010 US Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on School breakfast and lunch participation rates between 2008 and 2015. American Journal of Public Health, 108(1), 84–86. Web.
Vilsack, T. (2015). Reauthorisation of Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act vital to U.S. children. AAP News, 36(10), 16. Web.