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As a pediatrician, I support efforts to advance the health of Arizona students by improving the quality of school lunches.
One particularly unhealthful food commonly served in schools is processed meat, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified as causing cancer in humans.
Processed meat has been treated or cured with chemicals — usually nitrates and nitrites — that help preserve it, but also do a lot of damage to our colon and other cells. In addition, the way these meats are cooked often produces compounds from the meat called heterocyclic amines that are damaging to our health.
Given that scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports the detrimental effects of ultra-processed foods and processed meats on children’s health, attention span and academic performance, schools should never serve processed meat to students.
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The WHO classifies processed meats, like sausage, bacon, hot dogs, deli meats and pepperoni, as carcinogenic to humans. Consuming processed meat increases the risk of colorectal and stomach cancer. Perhaps most alarming for students is that colon cancer is striking U.S. adults at younger ages.
And there are other health concerns. A Harvard University study showed that, on average, one daily serving of processed meat (about one to two slices of deli meats or one hot dog) “was associated with a 42% higher risk of developing heart disease and a 19% higher risk of developing diabetes.”
The standard Western diet, rich in red and processed meats and other ultra-processed foods, has been found to increase the risks of contracting ADHD. When concentration wanes, academic performance suffers.
Schools are places where kids learn, and it is very important that they learn how to keep themselves healthy. We should be teaching by example.
Eating processed meat is also linked to heart disease and mortality. Schools are places where kids learn, and it is very important that they learn how to keep themselves healthy. We should be teaching by example. Processed foods cause body inflammation, and this inflammation is very unhealthy. Adults do not develop obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and fatty liver because they become a certain age. It starts in childhood, and it is imperative that we protect them from these conditions that will increase their morbidity and mortality.
On the other hand, plant-based whole foods, including whole grains, fruits and vegetables, improve executive functioning of the brain, which includes memory and attention. Throughout the state, from Yuma, the winter lettuce capital of the world, to Scottsdale, which hosts an annual celebration of pecans, Arizona produces many healthful fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. Our crop and orchard farmers could benefit financially by providing these healthful foods for school lunches.
Another reason to incorporate more nutritious food into school lunches is that 1 out of 3 kids aged 10 to 17 in Arizona is overweight or obese. Plant-based diets have been shown to help improve childhood obesity, an epidemic that increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, conditions that are becoming more and more common in children. A low-fat, vegan diet has been associated with a lower risk of heart disease in obese children by improving their weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, according to a Cleveland Clinic Study.
Limiting saturated fat has been shown to significantly lower LDL “bad” cholesterol and blood pressure in children and adolescents. That’s important, as obese children now show evidence of significant heart disease beginning as young as age 8. And half of U.S. children and adolescents do not have ideal cholesterol levels, with 25% in the clinically high range.
As epidemics of diet-related disease continue to take a toll on children, ultra-processed foods and processed meats are unacceptable, particularly in meals we serve to children at school.
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