What Should Kids Eat? Ultra-Processed Foods & Children’s Health

This back-to-school season, school nutrition is in the spotlight once again. Federal health officials recently pledged that the newest edition of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines will drive “major, dramatic changes in school food.” This effort is part of a longstanding debate around the role of “ultra-processed foods” in the American diet.

Ultra-processed foods usually have more added sugars and carbohydrates and less protein, fiber, and vitamins than unprocessed or minimally processed foods and are linked to weight gain and related health problems. Research suggests that up to 67 percent of what kids eat in the United States is ultra-processed.

Tune in to a virtual conversation and audience Q&A with leading nutrition experts to explore what we do and don't know about the impact of ultra-processed foods on children's health and get practical advice to support good eating habits for American kids.

Agenda

3:00 pm | Welcome

3:05 | Discussion

• Megan Ranney (Moderator), Dean, Yale School of Public Health
• Christopher Gardner, Director of Nutrition Studies, Stanford University
• Kevin Hall, author of Food Intelligence, and former Senior Investigator, National Institutes of Health
• Susan Mayne, former Director, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• Fatima Cody Stanford, pediatrician and professor, Harvard Medical School, and member, 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee

3:50 | Audience

4:25 | Closing Remarks

4:30 | Adjourn