As many as 20 percent of school children suffer from childhood obesity--among the many contributors of this looming epidemic, school lunch programs seem to play a major role. In an effort to battle the growing childhood obesity problem, the Illinois Center for Soy Foods has completed a pilot program, ISOY, to reveal the nutritional benefits of incorporating soy in the state's school lunch programs.
The co-director of the center explains that many school lunches currently exceed fat and calorie content recommendations of federal and state regulations. The goal of the program is to demonstrate that products made from soy ingredients can help cut fat, cholesterol and calorie content in lunches and still be acceptable to children's taste buds.
The ISOY Program
The studies--conducted in four school districts--included tests of four different entrees, including spaghetti with sauce, chili, ravioli and nuggets.
Researchers used the percentage of a product that was consumed during the usual lunch programs as a gauge for acceptance. Test products were considered equally acceptable as usual ones if students consumed the same amount or more of the soy-enhanced products. The results showed:
The percentage eaten of the soy products versus the meat versions was the same for the chili and spaghetti dishes.
There was no difference between the amount of soy-enhanced ravioli consumed compared to the meat version.
Less of the meatless nuggets were eaten (this was apparently due to the students' preconceived notions of the flavor, shape and size of chicken nuggets).
Medical News Today March 31, 2005
I recently ran an article about an extreme remedy for battling the ongoing obesity epidemic used in one school district in an Orlando suburb: Modifying cafeteria menus based on the South Beach Diet. Although there is lots of room for improvement in the South Beach Diet, it is orders of magnitude better than the disaster soy program being used in my home state. Most of you reading this will probably not be surprised to learn that soy is not the near-perfect health food it's touted to be. You are unlike most Americans who have been deceived by the media spin of the soy industry that soy is the "miracle food" to fight everything from cancer to heart disease to hot flashes--and a slew of other illnesses in between. If you aren't already familiar with some of the major concerns about soy, please read the summary on soy I wrote last year.
The reality: There are a number of serious health problems and risks associated with eating soy-based foods. Some may include:
The Whole Soy Story Revealed
If you really want the inside scoop on soy, though, I cannot recommend reading Dr. Kaayla Daniel's The Whole Soy Story strongly enough. This is, without question, the single best compilation of fact to refute every claim that soy advocates make. It should be required reading before anyone even considers taking a bite of soy, or better yet, replacing our children's school lunches with this potentially harmful ingredient.
If you have any questions about soy you simply must read this book, as it reveals the truth about the soy myths that have infiltrated our culture. Also, check out Dr. Daniel's important soy insights in this exclusive interview!
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