"Young persons need nutrition education to help them develop lifelong eating patterns consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food Guide Pyramid. Schools are ideal settings for nutrition education for several reasons:

Schools can reach almost all children and adolescents.

Schools provide opportunities to practice healthy eating. More than one-half of youths in the United States eat one of their three major meals in school, and 1 in 10 children and adolescents eats two of three main meals in school (135).

Schools can teach students how to resist social pressures. Eating is a socially learned behavior that is influenced by social pressures. School-based programs can directly address peer pressure that discourages healthy eating and harness the power of peer pressure to reinforce healthy eating habits.

Skilled personnel are available. After appropriate training, teachers can use their instructional skills and food service personnel can contribute their expertise to nutrition education programs.

Evaluations suggest that school-based nutrition education can improve the eating behaviors of young persons (136-138). "