New Guidance for Giving Our Youngest a Healthy Start at the Dinner Table

It’s a story I’m thrilled to be hearing more and more: offered fresher, healthier food options, kids are choosing them. Take the Wayne County School District in Kentucky. After a student-led survey, the district put in fresh salad bars with produce from area farms and introduced an app to share school menus and nutritional facts. Face to face with local tomatoes, cantaloupes, and sweet peppers, students upped their fruit and vegetable consumption while supporting local farmers.

This win-win story has two critical elements: the enthusiastic buy-in of the kids themselves, of course – but also the help of federal nutrition guidelines, which spurred the district to re-evaluate its offerings in the first place. The problem is, we haven’t been getting that kind of comprehensive guidance for our youngest, most vulnerable children, infants and toddlers – until now.

Today, our Healthy Eating Research program released clear and simple new guidelines for what and how to feed children under 2. They come from a panel of experts who have reviewed two decades worth of scientific evidence, and are particularly important given the risk of obesity in America today: Federal data show that 8.1 percent of children 2 and younger were already above the 95th percentile for weight in 2011. And as we know, early childhood is a critical time for development, from cognitive function and physical growth to the establishment of healthy eating patterns.

Something that really stands out in the new guidelines is the role of the parent and caregiver, even before birth. For example, the panel found that babies born to mothers whose diet was rich in fruits and vegetables during pregnancy and while breastfeeding were more likely to accept these foods later in life. As doctors have long advised, breastmilk is best for babies until they reach 6 months old – so just think of all the time a child’s eating patterns are being shaped before his or her first bite.

Once babies begin to eat – with breastmilk, too, until at least age 1 – the panel stresses the importance of encouraging them to try foods with different textures and flavors, including vegetables with a bitter or sour taste, over and over again. And just as important, the child needs to see parents and siblings enthusiastically eating those veggies, too. By age 2, most children should be eating what the family eats.

These are hardly earth-shattering recommendations, it’s true. But it’s hard to overstate their importance. Along with encouraging physical activity and good sleep patterns, these simple steps can help families drastically reduce the chances of childhood obesity and related illnesses like diabetes and heart disease.

In our hurried modern lives, it’s easy to lose sight of the simple – but sometimes time-consuming – opportunities we have to ensure our kids the best chance at a healthy life. But making the effort is well worth it, and not just for an individual or a single family: We all benefit when our kids grow up healthier – from lower health care costs and a more productive future workforce to a happier, more vibrant nation over all.

So we and others will keep pushing to make sure all families have the opportunity to raise healthy kids from the start – no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they make. That means working toward communities that encourage healthy choices at the dinner table, from the quality and location of grocery stores to the public transportation many families rely on to get there.

We can all agree that our children deserve a fair shot at a healthy, happy life. The earlier we start to nurture their well-being, the better chance we have to put them – and our nation – on a path to success. The first step is knowing what’s best, and that’s where these new guidelines come in.