Practically all public schools (99 percent) offer nutrition education somewhere within the curriculum, and many integrate it within the total curriculum (70 percent). Nutrition education is concentrated within the health curriculum (84 percent), science classes (72 percent), and school health program (68 percent) (table 1). Although nutrition education is an active area, the intensity and quality of the nutrition messages students are receiving is not known. For each grade from kindergarten through eighth, 50 percent or more of all schools have district or state requirements for students to receive nutrition education. However, only 40 percent have these requirements for ninth and tenth grades; and about 20 percent for eleventh.
