Kids across the US are eating fewer whole grains and more sugary milk in school lunches. See how federal rules have changed for the worse.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who heads the US Department of Agriculture (the agency that sets meal rules for nearly 99,000 schools across the country), has argued that the healthier meals fed to kids since 2012 have led some picky eaters to refuse more of the food offered at school.

"It doesn’t do any good to serve nutritious meals if they wind up in the trash can," Perdue said in a statement posted on the USDA website in November, when new rules the USDA will make official on Wednesday December 12 were temporarily enacted.

But recent studies suggest the opposite is true: kids were eating more vegetables and taking in less saturated fat at school under the Obama-era rules (though the healthier lunches did take some getting used to).

It costs more to feed kids healthier meals, however. And with the administration set on major budget cuts — including spending less on programs that feed children and slashing billions from the education budget — the cost-cutting effects of feeding children cheaper, processed foods may be a primary reason for the rollback.

Here's what kids across the country can get in the school lunch line under the Trump administration's relaxed rules:

Since the 2014-2015 school year, cafeterias across the country were required to serve kids "whole grain rich" meals. But not anymore.

Since the 2014-2015 school year, cafeterias across the country were required to serve kids "whole grain rich" meals. But not anymore. BusinessInsider

Salt is back.

Salt is back. BusinessInsider

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Kids are once more allowed to drink sugary flavored milk.

Kids are once more allowed to drink sugary flavored milk. BusinessInsider

Under the Obama-era rules, added sugar and flavoring was only permitted in skim milks, but now chocolate 1% is allowed, too.

But any carton of flavored milk, regardless of its fat content, isn't a good choice for kids.

More than half of US children in school today are on track to be obese by age 35. Gross said that sugary drinks at school may be contributing to that epidemic. A single carton of flavored milk adds about four teaspoons of sugar to a child's daily diet.

Studies suggest that students have gotten used to the new healthier options, and are eating more nutritious food at school than they were when the rules were first implemented.

Studies suggest that students have gotten used to the new healthier options, and are eating more nutritious food at school than they were when the rules were first implemented. BusinessInsider

Part of the argument for relaxing the lunch nutrition rules, which were first established by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (rolled out nationwide in 2012), is that students weren't eating the healthier food offered at school. But studies show that's not true.

If some kids don't eat nutrient-rich foods at school, they won't get them at all.

The 21st Century Learning Centers offer after-school programs in Greenville, Mississippi. At the Boys and Girls Club, children receive homework help and a hot dinner. The program would be eliminated under President Donald Trump’s budget proposal. BusinessInsider

In August 2017, reporting by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit news organization covering inequality in education, suggested that kids from low-income families living along the Mississippi Delta are genuinely excited about the food they're fed in free breakfast and lunch programs at school, such as apples and carrots.

According to the report, Shaw, Mississippi resident Betty Newson said her grandson "might get more the food he really needs" at school, but not at home.

Gross said that's a common situation nationwide.

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Studies have shown that there's a clear relationship between healthier food and healthier brains.

Lunch at Bell Academy: a banana, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, a whole wheat roll, and hamburger steak. BusinessInsider

A childhood diet high in processed foods has been associated with a higher likelihood of depression and anxiety later in life. A poor diet in the first years of a child's life can also increase their risk for behavioral and emotional problems.

But that eating lots of

Exposing kids to a variety of healthy foods early on can impact what they like to eat later in life.

Exposing kids to a variety of healthy foods early on can impact what they like to eat later in life. BusinessInsider

Researchers say the eating patterns that kids establish early in life typically follow them into adulthood.

As a group of Canadian researchers put it in 2007, "

One study showed that simply making lunch line offerings more nutritious (by serving more salads, fruits, and sandwiches instead of tacos and hamburgers) led students to

Considering that 20% of kids eat breakfast at school, and more than 90% get lunch there, the grains and sugar preferences they develop in the cafeteria likely shape the nutrition choices they'll make for life.

Kids across the US are eating fewer whole grains and more sugary milk in school lunches. See how federal rules have changed for the worse.

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