Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has lunch with elementary schoolchildren at Catoctin Elementary School in Leesburg, Va. Perdue and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) visited the school to unveil an interim rule “designed to provide flexibility for school meals.”
Credit: Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post
After only six days on the job, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue moved to stall one of former first lady Michelle Obama’s signature accomplishments: stricter nutritional standards for school breakfasts and lunches, which feed more than 31 million children.
Speaking at Catoctin Elementary School in Leesburg, Va., on Monday with Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Patricia Montague of the School Nutrition Association, Perdue announced that his department would be slowing the implementation of aggressive standards on sodium, whole grains and sweetened milks that passed under the Obama administration.
The measure is similar to a policy rider that House Republicans inserted in this week’s appropriations bill. It also echoes a bipartisan compromise made by Senate Republicans and Democrats last year, which did not pass before the end of the session.
“We know meals […]
National nutrition guidelines should be evidenced based and not solely based on what the American Heart Association, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, or any other organization states. I suggest reading the research presented by Salim Yusuf, MD, DPhil of McMaster University. His critique to current popular recommendations are wrong and possibly harmful. His bottom line: 3-5 gm/day of sodium is optimal, no evidence to support decreasing fat intake except trans fat, there is a need to decrease sugars (i.e. chocolate milk), and there is no evidence that low fat milk is beneficial.
Dr. Yusuf presented the above info at the 2016 international cardiology conference. His information is just a beginning and there is lots of rigorous, well-done research in the world that supports his statements; one just needs to dig and think critically.
I made a typo in the above comment. Should read “He *stated that the* current popular recommendations are wrong and possibly harmful.”