WASHINGTON — Warning that American schoolchildren need to learn about cholesterol as well as computers, a national panel of nutritionists said Wednesday that school lunchrooms must serve less fat and more fiber.
The Citizens Commission on School Nutrition recommended sweeping reforms and increased federal funding for the system that feeds 24 million children each school day.
``Today, with more single-parent households, more working mothers and more children in poverty, school lunches are more important than ever,`` the commission said.
The panel, whose 15 members range from cardiologists to educators, said federal limits should be set on how much fat is allowed in school lunches. It said sales of ``relatively non-nutritious foods`` such as soft drinks and candy should be banned from campus during school hours. It also urged school lunchrooms to serve more fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes and to dish out less salt, sugar and saturated fat.
The commission said Congress should mandate that schools offer milk with 2 percent or less fat, and the government should greatly increase federal per- student funding for school lunches.
The Department of Agriculture should set nutrition standards for school lunches, including a limit of 35 percent of calories from fat, the group said. This maximum fat level should be in effect within two to four years and ultimately reduced to 30 percent of calories.
The report received a cautious endorsement from the Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal school lunch program. However, Agriculture Department spokesman Phil Shanholtzer expressed reservations about a federal mandate setting limits on fat in school lunches.
``I don`t know if we have the regulatory power to do that,`` he said.
``But even if we did, it would be hard to enforce.``
The commission was convened by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit, health advocacy group based in Washington.